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On electric cars why does the exterior often extend over the rear wheels?
The more available used smaller models I see do not but the older ones and bigger ones and especially solar powered as well kinds often have the rear wheels covered at the top by the exterior.
Is there a reason for this or is it just something they like to do.?
KP sounds right so far
steve sounds retarded
Electric cars store much less energy than gas cars. When a gas car is converted to electricity, it's often outfitted with at least 1000 lbs of (lead acid) batteries giving it a total energy store of less than 25 kWh (kilowatt hours). A gas car with a 12 gallon tank holds 433 kWh, about 18 times as much. With such a small energy store, it's really important for an electric vehicle to not waste energy on wind resistance (or anything else).
The book, "Build your own Electric Vehicle", Seth Leitman and Bob Brant, 2009, describes the various things on a car which contribute to high wind resistance ("aerodynamic drag"). Having a square tail on a car, like a Hummer for example, will contribute 33% of the car's drag. Having open wheel wells is about 23%. Taller and/or wider cars also have more drag.
Making a car more streamline is really needed for most electrics but these improvements would also help make a gas car go further. Most car companies, however, think the consumers would rather buy a pretty car than one that goes further.
The newer electric cars, like the Tesla, use Lithium batteries rather than the older lead acid batteries. Pound for pound, Lithium batteries store about 3.3 times the energy of lead acid batteries so cars like the Tesla have a lot more than the 25kWh cited for older electrics. It isn't as important for such cars to use every aerodynmic trick. But note how low the Tesla is; "pretty sporty" (low) reduces drag too.
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