[Technology] What makes the Tesla car a brilliant invention?
As of October 2022 Tesla has a market capitalization of $693.62 Billion. This makes Tesla the world’s 6th most valuable company (source: https://companiesmarketcap.com/tesla/marketcap/ )
Moreover, TESLA has a larger market cap than the combination of Toyota, Volkswagen, Daimler, General Motors, Ford, Honda, Ferrari, Nissan, Subaru , Volvo, and Mazda. Can you Imagine that?
But what makes the Tesla car a brilliant invention?
Beside Design, Artificial intelligence and the Autopilot. I will show you three important features that are patented under the Tesla company and that make their car a brilliant invention of the 21th century.
- The Battery
As described in my previous article, an electric car needs a battery to function.
The Tesla battery is just a combination of a small lithium-Ion cell similar to the one we use in our daily life. The small cells are connected in series and parallel to produce the power required by the electric car. By doing so, temperature distribution and effective cooling is achieved.
2. Single speed transmission
Because the electric motor is efficient at a wide range of speeds. Like all other Electric vehicles, Tesla uses a simple single speed transmission.
The purpose of this single speed transmission is to transfer the power produced by the electric motor to the drive wheels via the gear box. It is composed of :
- Motor output
- Transmission output
- Differential
The Differential is a complex mechanical structure that takes the power from the motor and splits it, allowing the wheels to spin at different speeds. In simple words, Tesla replaced the complex hardware system of the differential with a smart and more responsive software.
3. Regenerative braking system.
Electric motor can either convert electrical power to mechanical one or mechanical power to the electric one. For more information you can check my previous article How induction motor works.
When a car is braking, mechanical power is produced. Tesla uses a regenerative braking system which saves huge kinetic energy of the car in the form of electricity; without wasting it as heat. In simple words, they use this mechanical energy to convert it into electrical energy and store it again in the batteries.
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