Are you an automobile enthusiast? If yes, you’ve probably heard about catalytic converters. Generally, a catalytic converter is a crucial component of a car’s exhaust system. It changes toxic gases into less harmful products before emission into the air.
These gases mostly consist of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, and hydrocarbons, which can pollute the air in their raw form.
Read on to discover how catalytic converters work and some of the vehicles that come fitted with these components.
How Does the Catalytic Converter Work?
Catalytic converters have oxidation and reduction chambers, which are responsible for cleaning exhaust gases.
When nitrogen oxides enter the reduction chamber, catalysts remove oxygen molecules. As a result, the car emits pure oxygen and nitrogen, which are less harmful to the environment.
Similarly, when carbon monoxide enters the oxidation chamber it reacts with oxygen to form carbon dioxide. The hydrocarbons also react with oxygen in the chamber to form water vapor.
You will often find catalytic converters in petrol and diesel engine vehicles since they derive power from internal combustion processes.
Types of Catalytic Converters
However, the principle of exhaust conversion into less harmful products remains the same across all types.
These include:
Oxidation Catalytic Converter
It uses oxygen as the primary catalyst that reduces the effect of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons.
Unfortunately, the converter has an inferior air injection system, hence it does not reduce all the harmful pollutants in the exhaust.
Dual-bed Catalytic Converter
The dual-bed converter is more effective compared to its oxygen counterpart. It operates in two distinct stages to reduce harmful emissions.
The first stage involves the reduction of nitrogen oxides, while the second stage involves the formation of water vapor from the hydrocarbons in unburned fuel.
Three-way Catalytic Converter
The three-way converter is the most preferred and highly effective option. Besides reducing carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons, it can reduce nitrogen oxides into less harmful components such as pure nitrogen.
Do Teslas Require Catalytic Converters?
Unlike most vehicles that use internal combustion engines, Teslas have electric motors and batteries. This means they rely on battery power instead of fuel.
As such, Teslas don’t use any fuel nor release exhaust gases into the atmosphere, hence they do not require catalytic converters.
To better understand why your Tesla doesn’t have a catalytic converter, below is an overview of some of the key components of the EV and how they work.
- Battery: It stores the energy that powers the car.
- Charging ports: For plugging cords when charging the battery.
- DC converter: It transforms the battery’s DC power from high voltage to low voltage level that the car requires to move.
- DC-AC Inverter: It converts DC power from the battery into AC power used in the car.
- Controller: It is responsible for managing the operational parameters. For instance, it can control the battery charging rate based on the manufacturer’s specifications.
- Traction motors: They turn the vehicle’s wheels.
- Thermal system: The system prevents the electric components from overheating since Teslas don’t have lubrication oils like gasoline vehicles.
When you engage the gear and step on the accelerator pedal, the inverter changes the DC battery power to AC.
The controller receives electric signals from the accelerator pedal and adjusts the signals transmitted to the motor to trigger movement.
Similarly, when you step on the brake pedal, the motor acts like an alternator, sending electric power back to the battery.
Final Thoughts:
The internal combustion engines of most cars produce toxic substances that are harmful to human life and the environment. That’s why they come equipped with catalytic converters.On the other hand, Tesla EVs derive power from batteries instead of fuel combustion and do not produce exhaust gases. For this reason, you won’t find a catalytic converter in an electric car.
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