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Do electric cars have alternators?
My understanding is that an alternator generates electricity to power a car’s battery. Surely this would remove the need for EV charging stations. Do electric cars have alternators?
Alex Healey · Updated on
Reviewed by Shannon Martin, Licensed Insurance Agent.
First of all, I love the way you think! A self-charging electric vehicle would remove the need for charging stations, and do away with range anxiety too.
Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as installing an alternator onto an EV. Electric cars don’t have alternators for two good reasons:
- Alternators don’t generate electricity from thin air. In gas cars they get it from mechanical power, which is supplied by running the engine and burning fuel. EVs don’t have engines, so an alternator would be lacking its power source.
- It would be possible to use an electric car’s rechargeable battery to spin the alternator, but this would be self-defeating, using up more electricity than it generates.
In a fully-charged EV, a huge amount of power is stored in the high-voltage traction battery.
A DC-to-DC converter is used to send power to a much smaller (12-volt) battery, which can then be used to start the car, and power the car’s electrical applications when the main battery is turned off.
This DC-to-DC converter essentially acts as an alternator, but instead of using fuel combustion to generate power, you have to recharge the battery instead.
In the future, it is likely that self-charging electric cars will siphon energy from the sun, or dynamic charging roadways, or some other ingenious idea we’ve not even considered. This will enable them to drive huge distances without stopping, but we’re not there yet.
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