The Various Classifications of the Cars Which are Prevalent in the Developed World - Research Proposal Example

CARS Type Introduction Cars are considered as modern tools for commuting from one place to another. They not only reduced the time for travelling butthey are now fund and provide enough excitement to drive them. The innovation in the technology has allowed the manufacturing of many different types of cars. Some of the types of cars are described below: 1) Hybrid Cars The emerging problems of pollution and high cost of the gasoline has necessitated the change in manufacturing of cars to the point where they not only contribute to the environment but are cost efficient too. Hybrid Cars is the answer to this problem. A hybrid car typically provides a higher mileage at lower emission rates and lower gas consumption as compared to the traditionally powered gasoline cars. A typical hybrid car with a combination of electricity and gasoline provide these benefits to the users by combining the set up of these two systems to provide necessary leverage in gasoline consumption and electric power. A traditional hybrid cars works on the principal of hybrid technology which combines the use of traditional locomotive engines which are run by the two different sources of fuel. Most of them work either on Gasoline plus electricity or Diesel plus some other source of fuel and can use nuclear power also. Therefore any vehicle that can combines two or more sources of propulsion are considered as hybrid vehicles. Most of the cars which are now commonly used are hybrid in nature as they use either diesel and electricity or gasoline and electricity as two mutual sources of propulsion. A typical gas powered car carries a fuel tank which is a chief source of providing gasoline to the engine which in turn provides engine the ability to transmit which actually move the wheels of the car whereas compared to the gas powered hybrid car, the electric powered hybrid car which has a set of batteries which provide the power to the engine to run. The normal structure of a gasoline-electricity powered car include a gasoline engine, a fuel tank, electric motor which also acts as a generator in advanced models, a generator to produce electric power, a set of batteries which are used to store electric power, and transmission mechanism which is basically used to perform basic transmission functions like in traditional cars besides providing a radically different mechanism in car models like in Toyota Pirus. (Layton and Nice). Traditionally, the power in the electric-gasoline car can be combined in two ways. One is called Parallel Hybrid in which the gas tank provides fuel to the engine and the set of batteries provides power to the electric motor whereas in series hybrid cars the gasoline engines turns the generator which in turn can charge batteries or provide power to the electric motor. The advantage with the hybrid cars is the harnessing of two different sources of power into one which not only provides the necessary fuel efficiency but better mileage as well as more efficient cars. 2) Electric Cars Electric cars are considered as one of the hottest topics now a day as they are environmental friendly due to the fact that the electric powered cars do not contribute to the pollution as traditionally powered gasoline cars secondly they are traditionally powered through fuel cells which are again one of the hottest topics in the news. A traditional electric car is powered by an electric motor rather than a gasoline engine which is used in the traditional cars. It is also important to mention that the traditional gasoline powered cars can easily be converted into the electric cars and it becomes sometimes difficult to spot which car is electric power driven and which is a traditional gasoline powered car however traditionally, gasoline engine is replaced by an electric powered motor which gets power from a controller which in returns get charged through an array of rechargeable batteries therefore unlike traditional gasoline powered cars, the electric cars looks like a mess of wirings circled around various equipments. The traditional modification involved in converting a gasoline car into an electric powered car involves the removal of gasoline tank, muffler and catalytic converter. Then the clutch assembly of the car is removed and was replaced with a new electric powered AC electric motor is mounted to the transmission with an adopted plate with an electric controller being added to the newly mounted electric motor. The common structure of electric car therefore includes electric motor, electric controller and the batteries. The controller within the car takes the power from the batteries and transmits it to the motor which in turn propels the engine. Normally the electric controller takes 300 volts DC power from the batteries however it can vary also. The transmission of power from the controller to the motor takes place through a large number of transistors which are built in the controller. These transistors convert the power in Sine waves rapidly and transmit them to the motor. Normally an electric power driven car uses either a DC motor or an AC motor. The DC motor requires power of approximately from 96 to 192 volts whereas an AC motor can run on 240 volts AC with 300 volts battery. However as for as cost is concerned, DC powered motors are considered as less expensive and more simpler than the AC motors whereas AC motors allow the use of any industrial three phased AC motor to be used to power the engine. The problems associated with the electric powered cars are mostly battery related as they are not only expensive to replace but are more technology driven. The benefit which these electric cars have over the gasoline powered cars is the higher mileage at low cost. The normal electric powered car ranges up to 50 miles per hour and it takes up to 12 kilo watts of energy to charge the electric batteries after the trip of 50 miles. However the costs associated with the replacement of batteries are higher as compared to the normal gasoline cars. (Brain). 3) Motor Cars Any self propelled vehicle with more than two wheels and a compartment for the passengers and is capable of being steered by an operator can be categorized as a motor car. A motor car is a vehicle which carries its own motor. Technically this is a passenger vehicle which carries the passengers to travel from one place to another. Typically a motor car is supposed to be running on the roads, having seating capability fro one to eight persons however, on average seven persons can sit in motor car at one point in time, is of four wheels and is primarily used for carrying persons rather than goods. The essential parts of a motor car include a power plant, the power transmission, running gear and the control system. The power plant of a motor car includes an engine and its fuel, carburetor, ignition, lubrication and cooling system. Large number of motor cars in the world are still four stroke i.e. four piston stokes per cycle. The first down stroke of the piston that is attached to a connecting rod at its top end and to the crankshaft at the bottom draws a petrol-air mixture into the cylinder. This is then compressed, which is the second stage of the process. The volatile cocktail is then ignited by a sparking plug and the resulting explosion forces down the piston, so turning the crankshaft. The final phase of the operation is the stroke that expels the exhaust gases from the cylinder. They are mostly run by gasoline or diesel through internal combustion however they are also responsible for causing air pollution. The diesel engines provide almost 50% fuel efficiency as compared to the gasoline cars which provide an efficiency level of 27% burn efficiency. Gasoline engines are lighter in nature and are able to run at rationally higher speeds than the diesel engines. The recent modifications in the technology involve the use of fuel injection rather than traditional carburetor as it is now considered as more fuel efficient technology. Classification of Cars The classification of cars is mostly considered as subjective in nature as different vehicles fall into multiple categories at the same time besides the interpretation of the classification can be different at different places in different contexts as geographical interpretation of the cars is very much different in different regions like North America and European Union carries different sets of description for cars. (Wikipedia). Different classifications of the cars are described below: 1) Microcars: these cars are considered as somewhat between motor bikes and cars and can only allow the seating arrangements for only two persons at the same time. These cars seem unorthodox in their design as some of them are three wheelers however most of them are four wheelers. Examples include Subaru 360, Isetta etc. 2) City car: Unlike the microcars, city cars are used in urban areas and are smaller in size. However it has greater speed, capacity and is considered as safer than the microcars. The city cars can reach the speed of cars which are running on the highways however their intended use is for commuting within the city. In Japan these cars are called Kei and have strict requirements as for as their design and engine requirements. Examples include Suzuki Kei, Honda Beat etc. 3) Supermini: this car has dual classification in two different regions. In Europe it is known as Supermini and in North America, this type of car is known as subcompact car. These cars can have three, four or even five doors and are smallest cars in US which are currently being sold. This car can easily seat four persons and are hatchback in nature. Examples include Ford Fiesta which was first introduced in Europe during 1957 whereas Nissan Micra and Volkswagen Polo are later models of the car. 4) Compact Car: these cars have longer hatchbacks with an approximate size of 4250 mm in case of hatchbacks and 4500 mm in case of Sedan. They can comfortably allow five persons to sit and have engines between 1.6 & 2.2 liters. They are considered as one of the most popular cars in the most developed nations. The examples of compact cars include Toyota Corolla, Ford Focus etc. 5) Large Family Sized Cars; these cars can easily occupied by five persons and usually have larger trunks at the back to accommodate the additional stuff to be loaded on the car. The normal engines are of six cylinders and are more powerful then the normal compact cars. The size of this type of car can vary across different regions. Examples include Ford Mondeo and Toyota Avensis. These are some of the descriptions of the various classifications of the cars which are prevalent in developed world. Though there are various other classifications of the cars but most important within the context of individual and family use re described above. References Brain, Marshal. How Electric Car works. 31 Jan 2008 . Layton, Julia and Karim Nice. How Hybrid Cars Work. 31 Jan 2008 . Wikipedia. "Car Classification." Wikipedia. 31 Jan 2008 . Read More