Electric Cars For Dummies

Table of contents

1. Cover
2. Title Page
3. Copyright
4. Introduction
   1. About This Book
   2. Foolish Assumptions
   3. Icons Used in This Book
   4. Beyond the Book
   5. Where to Go from Here
5. Part 1: Getting In On the Popularity of Electric Cars
   1. Chapter 1: So You’re Thinking About Buying an Electric Car
      1. Why Buy an Electric Car?
      2. The Disruption of Better Tech
      3. Acronyms and Abbreviations That Make You Sound Smrt
      4. Drawing the Line between Electric and Gas-Powered Vehicles
      5. Yeah, but Gas Cars Aren’t Going Anywhere for a While — Wait, What?
      6. TL;DR: Your Top Questions about Electric Cars, Answered
   2. Chapter 2: The Fascinating Tech That’s (Sort of) Under the Hood
      1. Recognizing That Induction Motors Mean Instant Energy
      2. Seeing What Happens When You Hit “the Gas”
      3. Comparing Torque and Horsepower
      4. Letting Physics Do the Braking
      5. Making More Room for the Fun Stuff
      6. Knowing What to Do When There’s (Almost) Nothing Under the Hood
      7. Driving an iPad with Wheels
   3. Chapter 3: Electric Vehicles and a Safer Drive
      1. Why You Might Be Under the Impression That EVs Are Unsafe
      2. A Brief — and Instructive — History of ICE Vehicle Safety
      3. A Short History of Everything (Car-Safety-Related) in 2 Minutes
      4. Examining Safety Features (and Statistics) for Electric Vehicles
      5. Exploring the Possibility of a Car Fire (ICE versus EV)
      6. A Car That Gets Safer Over Time
6. Part 2: Buying Wisely
   1. Chapter 4: Consider the Cost (of an Electric Vehicle)
      1. The Price of an Automobile: An Analysis Using Numbers
      2. Gas versus Electric: A Comparison Using Numbers
      3. EVs and Maintenance: An Estimation Using Numbers
      4. Whoa — EVs Seem Expensive! Maybe We Should Look at the Numbers
      5. Bottom Line: Estimating (Using Numbers) the Total Cost of Ownership
   2. Chapter 5: Researching Your EV Options
      1. An Overview of the EV Market
      2. Separating the Wheat from the Chaff
      3. Deciding When (or Whether) to Buy a Used Electric Car
   3. Chapter 6: Buying Your New Electric Car
      1. Exploring the Differences between Buying an ICE and an EV
      2. Navigating (or Avoiding) the Dealership
      3. Insuring Your Electric Wheels
7. Part 3: Maintaining Your Newfangled Horseless Carriage
   1. Chapter 7: Charge ’Er Up!
      1. Onions Have Layers, and Charging Has Levels
      2. Getting Up to Speed with Level 1 Charging
      3. Turning Things Up with Level 2 Charging
      4. Getting a Wicked-Fast Charge with Level 3 Charging
   2. Chapter 8: Protecting the Battery (and Your Investment)
      1. Seeing Which Batteries Actually Power Cars
      2. Counting Up the Kilowatt-Hours
      3. Recognizing That Too Much of a Good Thing Is a Bad Thing
      4. Dealing with Battery Death
      5. Going the Extra Mile
      6. Seeing Where EV Batteries Go When They Die
      7. Dealing with Battery Pack Replacements
   3. Chapter 9: Keeping Your Car in Top Shape
      1. Getting Your Hands Dirty (or Not)
      2. Tracking Down EV Service Locations
      3. Keeping Your EV Exterior in the Pink
      4. Keeping Your EV Interior Shipshape
      5. Knowing What You Don’t Need to Do
      6. Things You'll Never Have to Add to Your To-Do List
8. Part 4: Futurethink and Fun with EV Engineering
   1. Chapter 10: Faster, Farther, and More Fun
      1. Living Out Your Speed Racer Fantasies
      2. Staying Out of Jail
      3. Can an EV Power Your House?
      4. Will EV Prices Ever Come Down? When?
      5. Renewable Energy and the Electric Car World
      6. Next-Gen Batteries
   2. Chapter 11: Our Autonomous Future
      1. Adding Up the Self-Driving Benefits
      2. Listing the Key ADAS Benefits
      3. Can These Cars Drive Themselves — or What?
      4. Doing the Vision Thing
      5. Recognizing the Challenges
      6. Gazing into the EV Crystal Ball
   3. Chapter 12: Other Vehicles That Are Going Electric
      1. Going Mobile with Electric Buses
      2. Keep On Truckin' (with Electric Long-Haul Trucks)
      3. Delivering the Goods (with Electric Delivery Vans)
      4. I Sing the Lawn Mower Electric
   4. Chapter 13: The Best Car Is No Car: Electric Bikes and the Morning Commute
      1. Making the Trip by Bike
      2. Looking at the Three Classes of Ebikes
      3. Scouting Out the More Notable Ebike Companies
      4. Hey! I’m Giving Away Ebikes!
9. Part 5: The Part of Tens
   1. Chapter 14: Ten Countries Leading the Way — and What They’re Doing
      1. Norway
      2. Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands
      3. Germany
      4. China
      5. United States
      6. California
      7. UK
      8. New Zealand
      9. Mexico
      10. India
      11. Japan
   2. Chapter 15: Ten Companies Leading the Way — and a Look at What They’re Doing
      1. Tesla
      2. Xpeng Motors
      3. Lucid and Rivian
      4. Volkswagen
      5. GM and Ford
      6. Geeley/Polestar
      7. Hyundai
      8. BYD
      9. SIAC
      10. Everyone Else
   3. Chapter 16: Ten Predictions from EV Insiders (with Plenty of Commentary and Opinion Because It’s My Book There, Bub)
      1. When New EVs Will Cost $25,000
      2. When Robotaxis Will Make Their Grand Entrance
      3. When Electric Planes (or Flying Cars) Will Make Their Grand Entrance
      4. Which Companies Will Thrive (and Which Ones Won’t)
      5. When You Will See Electric Semis (and What It Will Mean)
      6. Future Battery Tech for Your Car
      7. When You’ll (Hopefully) See an Impact on Parking and City Design
      8. Connected Cars
      9. The Last ICE Sale Will Take Place Sometime in 2030 — for California
10. Index
11. About the Author
12. Advertisement Page
13. Connect with Dummies
14. End User License Agreement