How does the Tesla electric car work? The Tesla uses a three-phase Alternating Current (AC) Induction motor. The motor has two primary components: a rotor and a stator. The rotor is a shaft of steel with copper bars running through it. It rotates and, in doing so, turns the wheels. The stationary stator surrounds, but does not touch, the rotor. The stator has two functions: it creates a rotating magnetic field and it induces a current in the rotor. The current creates a second magnetic field in the rotor that chases the rotating stator field. The end result is torque. The magnetic field is created completely from electricity. The stator is assembled by winding coils of copper wire through a stack of thin steel plates called laminations. The copper wire conducts the electricity fed into the motor from the Power Electronics Module. There are three sets of wires – each wire conducts one of the three phases of electricity. The three phases are offset from each other such that combing the rises and falls of each phase creates a smooth supply of current—and therefore power. The flow of alternating current into the copper windings creates a magnetic field. This is electromagnetism. And just as the current in each phase constantly rises and falls, the magnetic field also varies between “North” and “South”. -Tesla
Use of technology- Nikola Tesla emigrated to America from Croatia to work for Thomas Edison. The partnership did not last long and soon after he ended up going out on his own and launched a small company and development laboratory in 1886 in New York. In 1887 Tesla files his first patents for a two-phase AC system with four electric power lines, which consists of a generator, a transmission system and a multi-phase motor. The image below is a picture of one of many patents he filed for.
George Westinghouse licensed his AC induction motor and transformer and Tesla also worked for a short time as a consultant for Westinghouse. Tesla also made many other discoveries in fields such as lighting and radio technology. Below is a picture of Tesla around 1890.
Charging stations- The Tesla can charge wherever there is an outlet, 120v or 240v! The Tesla can be programmed to charge at a certain time of day. The recommended time is between midnight and 6 am when the cost of electricity may be lowest. Tesla also offers high power charging stations for home use that greatly increase the speed at which the car charges. Another option are Superchargers- stations on the road users can rapidly charge their cars at. There are also public charging stations across the country Tesla cars can use with an adapter. The map below shows the Supercharge stations as of January 2015.
References:
1. Tesla
http://my.teslamotors.com/roadster/technology/motor
http://www.teslamotors.com/models-charging#/onthego
2. Explain That Stuff
http://www.explainthatstuff.com/induction-motors.html
3. KIT
https://www.eti.kit.edu/english/1390.php
4. Hybrid Cars
http://www.hybridcars.com/tesla-updates-map-of-supercharger-sites/