This is a sample capture sheet sourced from the Poolesville HS and Walt Whitman HS events as well as some additional questions added by the EV community.
This is a resource that can be used by teachers or organizers of events to give students some questions to help then better understand Electric Vehicles.
When used, all the text in italics can be removed, and the questions can be tailored to specific classes, for example Physics or AP Environmental Science, or just for the general student population.
Make, Model, Year, Cost, Total miles Driven gas-free, weight of the vehicle– These are all well understood and easy to answer by EV owners.
Pack voltage– Most EV owners don’t know much about Pack voltage without looking it up. Dan created the original EV Capture sheet and had also converted a gas-powered Pacer to an Electric Vehicle, so he probably knew more details about why this may be important. I’m personally interested in learning more about Pack voltage since it may be related to how fast a car can be charged.
Energy Storage– The amount kWh the EV’s battery can store. If not known by an EV owner, a resource like the “EVInfoSheet” can be used to look it up. This question can be used as a way to show students the kind of information that the EVInfoSheet has.
Range (New)– This question allows a student to get an idea of the loss in range with miles driven when compared to the Range (Current).
Range (Current) – How far the EV can travel on a full charge, may be the same as Range (New) until the EV is a few years old.
Range (Winter)– Not easy to give a short answer that is also accurate. The loss depends on the temperature and maybe if it is parked in a garage or not. The best answer may be the loss for an average cold temperature, like 32 degrees. Which is around a 25-30% loss based on the following sites.
This website has some detailed information about efficiency measured at different temperatures. Divide the EV’s storage (kWh) by the wh/mile to get expected range. Using the following site, a Tesla Model S 85 at 75 degrees uses 330 wh/mile or should get 85,000/330 = 258 miles.
https://about.teslafi.com/temperature-efficiency-2/
This website has the data from an owner’s own test over a month. Not clear why snow and ice on the road makes a difference.
https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-battery-range-sub-zero-snowy-conditions/
Longest Trip– Easy to answer and allows the EV Owner to give the student an idea of how the EV can be used.
Favorite EV Story– Another chance for the students to learn something interesting about EVs. One of my favorites is when an EV showed that it didn’t have enough miles left to reach a charger. By slowing down to 40 mph the EV was able to make it, getting a surprisingly higher range at that speed.
Questions from the AP Environmental Science Exam– These are good to include is there are students taking the class. Even if they don’t get good answers from the EV Owners, it could encourage them to try to learn more independently or in class.
The answer key is online. Interesting that it came from the exam given in 2002!
https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/apc/sg_envir_sci_02_11517.pdf
REMOVE THIS AND ALL TEXT ABOVE!
Name___________________________________________________ Period______ Date ________
List the following for 2 or more electric cars:
| Make
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| Model
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| Year
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| Cost
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| Total miles Driven gas-free
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| Pack voltage
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| Energy storage
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| Range (new)
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| Range (current)
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| Range (winter)
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| Weight of the vehicle (on door pillar) | |||
| Longest Trip
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| Favorite EV Story |
- Identify and describe two environmental benefits to using electric vehicles in place of gasoline-powered engines for transportation.
- Describe TWO economic impacts (excluding costs related to climate change resulting from CO2 emissions or the cost of gasoline at the pump) that result from an increased number of BEVs on the road.
- Propose two potential new US government or state policies that would encourage the widespread use of electric vehicles. Explain.
Here are sample entry forms if you want to have a raffle to encourage students to visit every car and collect a couple of pieces of information on each one. Label each car with a letter “Car A”, Car B’, etc. and have them either ask the owner, or simply write the information on the letter sheet and have them copy it off. Sample information could be range & battery size, or miles and battery size, for example. CARMake Car Sheet A