abstract
- Human experience with tribology is perhaps one of the oldest, dating back to when they first moved around in their early habitats. The relentless pursuit of perfecting mobility has since endured the test of time over many millennia and finally culminated in the discovery of the very first vehicles in the 1800s. These were powered by electricity and introduced between 1830 and 1880, while motorized vehicles powered by gasoline were introduced in the late 1880s. Some of the earliest pioneers of electricity were William Gilbert, who recognized the connection between magnetism and electricity in the 1600s, and Benjamin Franklin, who confirmed that lightning was a form of electricity in the mid-1700s. Human experience with electricity continued throughout this period and culminated in the discovery of the very first battery by Italian physicist Alessandro Volta in 1800 and then the French physicist Gaston Planté, who further perfected battery technology by inventing a rechargeable lead-acid battery in 1859. Michael Faraday¿s invention of the very first electric motor and generator advanced the field of electricity and electromagnetism further, and all these advancements resulted in the development of electric vehicles for practical uses around the 1870s. William Morrison was the developer of the first electric car in the United States in the early 1890s, which could carry up to six passengers at a speed of 23 km/h. Since these earlier endeavors, electric vehicles have once again become one of the hottest research topics on many fronts including tribology. More advanced materials and lubricants are urgently needed to meet the efficiency and reliability challenges. Chapters of this book aim to provide some of the most recent developments and discoveries related to EV tribology from those experts in industry and academia and hence help resolve some of these challenges. © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.