Products example

An electric car, the platform

An engineering page: the battery, motors and charging under an electric car, filed by what each does.

Read-only showcase

100%

In words

Everything on this diagram

The same content as the picture, as text: every part and what it says when you open it.

Wheels and tyres

Low-rolling-resistance tyres, often with foam inside to quieten road noise that an engine used to hide.

Tyres: Low rolling resistance
Often: Foam-lined, for quiet

Battery pack

Thousands of lithium-ion cells in modules, sealed in a flat case that forms the floor of the car. Low and central, it also gives the car its low centre of gravity.

Typical capacity: 60–100 kWh
Voltage: 400 V, or 800 V on newer cars
Also: A structural part of the floor

Rear drive unit

The motor, a single-speed reduction gear and the differential in one housing, driving the rear wheels.

Motor: Permanent-magnet synchronous
Gears: One fixed reduction, no gearbox

Front drive unit

A second motor for the front wheels makes the car all-wheel drive, and it can switch off when cruising to save energy.

Motor: Often an induction motor
Makes the car: All-wheel drive

Inverter

Turns the battery's direct current into the alternating current the motor runs on, and back again when the car brakes and the motor becomes a generator.

Converts: DC to AC, and back
Enables: Regenerative braking

On-board charger

Converts mains AC from a home wallbox into DC for the battery. A rapid charger supplies DC directly and bypasses it, which is why rapid charging is so much faster.

AC charging: Typically 7–11 kW
DC rapid charging: Bypasses it, 150 kW and more

Charge port

The socket for both AC and DC charging - CCS2 in Europe and India, NACS or CCS1 in North America.

Standards: CCS2, CCS1, NACS
Takes: AC and DC

Front trunk

With no engine in front, the space becomes luggage room - the 'frunk'.

Typical size: 50–150 litres

12-volt battery

A small conventional battery that powers the lights, locks, screens and computers, and wakes the high-voltage system.

Voltage: 12 V
Powers: Lights, locks, screens, computers

Radiator and heat pump

Keeps the battery in its comfortable range and heats the cabin. A heat pump moves heat rather than making it, which saves range in cold weather.

Battery's comfort zone: About 20–40 °C
Heat pump saves: Range in winter

Steering rack

Turns the front wheels, with electric power assistance - there is no engine to drive a hydraulic pump.

Assistance: Electric

Suspension

Springs and dampers at each corner. The heavy battery sits between them, so the car rides flat through corners.

Per corner: A spring and a damper

High-voltage cabling

Thick shielded cables between the battery, the drive units and the charger, always sheathed in orange so nobody mistakes them for low voltage.

Colour: Orange, by convention
Carries: Hundreds of volts