Book 22, Question 118
How Is an Electric Car Charged, and Where Does That Energy Come From?
An electric car has no gas tank. It runs on a big battery instead. But where does that energy come from? Electric cars can recover energy when braking.
More fun facts
- An all electric car has an electric motor instead of a gasoline engine.
- A large battery pack powers the motor.
- The car must be plugged into a wall outlet or a charging station.
- A charger inside the car changes the electricity from the outlet into the kind a battery can store.
- While charging, the car keeps watch on the battery's temperature and how full it is.
- The electricity that charges it can be made from many different energy sources.
Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, eia.gov
Questions kids ask
Where do you plug in an electric car?
Into the car's charge port, which connects it to a wall outlet or charging equipment.