2021年经济学人 电动汽车升级（1）

Science & technology

科技板块

Electric cars

电动汽车

Pump up the voltage!

加大电压

Electric vehicles which operate at 800v can be recharged in half the time

800v电动汽车充电时可以节省一半的时间

Electric vehicles (EVS) are becoming commoner.

电动汽车(EVS)变得越来越普遍。

Some 750,000 of them were sold in the first quarter of 2021 according to JATO Dynamics¹, a British consultancy.

据英国咨询公司JATO Dynamics透露，2021年第一季度(1~3月)电动汽车的销量在75万台左右。

JATO reckons EVS now account for just over 4% of new-car sales, up from 2% in the same quarter last year.

据JATO估计，目前电动汽车在新车销售中所占比例略高于4%，高于去年同期的2%。

Yet many potential buyers still suffer from "range anxiety", a wariness² about having to interrupt a long journey while an EV's battery is recharged.

然而，许多潜在买家仍有“里程焦虑”，即电动汽车在跑长途时需要中断行程进行充电。

The good news is that the time required to do this is about to be slashed³.

好消息是，充电所需时间将大大缩短。

Most EVS operate at 400 volts⁴ (400v).

大多数电动汽车在400伏(400v)电压下工作。

But a number of producers and their component⁵ suppliers are now gearing up to introduce 800v drive systems.

但许多生产商及其零部件供应商现在正准备引进800v驱动系统。

Higher voltages supply the same amount of power with less current, which means electric cables can be made lighter—the consequent weight saving helping⁶ to increase a vehicle's range,

GKN汽车公司的技术总监克里斯托夫·吉伦表示，更高的电压以更小的电流提供相同的功率，这意味着电缆可以做得更轻，由此产生的重量减轻有助于增加车辆的行驶里程。

says Christoph Gillen, a technology director for GKN Automotive, a British components⁷ group which recently announced that it is accelerating its development of 800v drive systems.

该公司最近宣布正在加速其800v驱动系统的开发。

As most cabling is made from copper⁸, the price of which has been soaring, this should also save carmakers money.

由于大多数电缆都是由铜制成的，而铜价一直在飙升，这也为汽车制造商节省了资金。

What drivers are most likely to notice, though, according to Dr Gillen, is that vehicles with 800v drive systems will be able to make greater use of some of the latest fast chargers.

不过，吉伦博士表示，最可能引起司机们注意的是，装有800v驱动系统的汽车能够更好地使用一些最新的快速充电器。

For instance, Ionity, a German company backed by a number of carmakers, is building a network of 350kw fast chargers across Europe.

例如，由多家汽车制造商支持的德国公司Ionity正在全欧洲建设一个350千瓦的快速充电网络，

These automatically optimise charging speed to the maximum that a vehicle can handle.

能够自动优化充电速度至该车可承载的最大充电速度。

Using one of these, an EV with an 800v system will be able to recharge about twice as quickly as a similar vehicle with a 400v system.

若使用其中一种，配备800v系统的电动汽车的充电速度会是配备400v系统的同类汽车的两倍。

Fast chargers are also more efficient.

快速充电器也变得更有效率。

All chargers take electricity from the grid⁹, which uses an alternating current (AC).

所有的充电器都从电网中获取电能，而电网使用的是交流电。

When an EV is plugged into a standard charging point, its systems convert AC into direct current (DC), which is what a battery needs to store electricity.

当电动汽车插入标准充电点时，其系统将交流电转换为电池存储电力所需要的直流电(DC)。

Fast chargers bypass the vehicle's converter, using their own beefier bits of kit¹⁰ to pump a DC charge directly into the battery.

快速充电器绕过车辆的转换器，使用自己的强大套件直接将直流电注入电池。

1 dynamics   

n.力学，动力学，动力，原动力；动态

参考例句：

• In order to succeed,you must master complicated knowledge of dynamics.要取得胜利，你必须掌握很复杂的动力学知识。
• Dynamics is a discipline that cannot be mastered without extensive practice.动力学是一门不做大量习题就不能掌握的学科。

2 wariness   

n. 注意,小心

参考例句：

• The British public's wariness of opera is an anomaly in Europe. 英国公众对歌剧不大轻易接受的态度在欧洲来说很反常。
• There certainly is a history of wariness about using the R-word. 历史表明绝对应当谨慎使用“衰退”一词。

3 slashed   

v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减

参考例句：

• Someone had slashed the tyres on my car. 有人把我的汽车轮胎割破了。
• He slashed the bark off the tree with his knife. 他用刀把树皮从树上砍下。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 volts   

n.（电压单位）伏特( volt的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The floating potential, Vf is usually only a few volts below ground. 浮置电势Vf通常只低于接地电位几伏。 来自辞典例句
• If gamma particles are present, potential differences of several thousand volts can be generated. 如果存在γ粒子，可能产生几千伏的电位差。 来自辞典例句

5 component   

n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的

参考例句：

• Each component is carefully checked before assembly.每个零件在装配前都经过仔细检查。
• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。

6 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

7 components   

（机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分

参考例句：

• the components of a machine 机器部件
• Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。

8 copper   

n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的

参考例句：

• The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
• Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。

9 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

10 kit   

n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物

参考例句：

• The kit consisted of about twenty cosmetic items.整套工具包括大约20种化妆用品。
• The captain wants to inspect your kit.船长想检查你的行装。