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Why is an electric car's charger sometimes inside the car?

The box beside an electric car is not always where the electricity is converted for its battery. With AC charging, that conversion happens in an onboard charger; DC fast charging performs it outside the vehicle. Calling both pieces of equipment a 'charger' can hide two different routes from the supply to the battery.

3–5 min

Questions you could explore

  • How does the location of the conversion equipment affect what a vehicle can accept?
  • How do AC charging and DC charging place the conversion from alternating to direct current in different locations?

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Energy

A solar cell's route from light to electricity

Shining sunlight onto a piece of silicon is only the first step in making solar power. When incoming photons knock electrons loose inside the semiconductor, an internal electric field built into the solar cell's layers must separate those charges and guide them into an external circuit before they simply recombine.

4–5 min
Why is an electric car's charger sometimes inside the car? | Speech Topic | speaking.app