Electric car

This afternoon we went down to Kettle Bridge carpark to meet Jenny and Paul (Tom in Abbey class's Mum and Dad) to see their electric car! Paul had driven down his diesel car so we could compare and talk about the differences. Jenny explained that electric cars have a battery that holds the electricity needed to power the car. The battery needs charging up. She showed us the cable that plugs into the car to help it charge. She can charge her car at home. She needs to remember to charge it every night so it's fully charged to use the next day. We looked under the bonnet of both cars and Paul showed us that diesel and petrol cars have big engines with lots of parts. The electric car didn't have as much under the bonnet. The engine was a very small box and it had some very powerful wires carrying the electricity.

Jenny and Paul then started each of the cars with the ignition buttons and using their keys. We noticed that the electric car was very quiet and hardly made any noise at all but the diesel engine was quite loud! We have been learning that diesel and petrol cars burn fuels to power their engines which makes fumes and smoke that are not very good for the environment. Electric cars are a much cleaner alternative and do not pollute the environment in the same way. Jenny and Paul also said the electric car is much cheaper to run, costing only £40 a month to keep charged in comparison to £300 a month that is needed to buy fuel for the diesel car!

Tom read aloud some quiz questions that helped us to learn more about electric cars. We learnt that in the UK there is a special colour for the number plate of electric cars...green! Maybe you could look out electric cars next time you are driving...there might be more around than you think!