Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I need help quickly! I have a project due very soon on electric cars, and am having enourmous difficulty. You see, I want to find out the technical (things like parts) differences between a generic electric car and a gas-powered vehicle. I've spent 5 hours searching so far, and have become incredibly irritable. Any help would be wonderous.

Hi there,

The main difference between an electric car and a gas powered car is the engine used (as you might have guessed).

An electrical car uses an electric motor that converts electric stored energy to kinetic energy.
You can read about electric generators here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_generator

A gas powered car uses a combustion engine where chemical energy is converted to kinetic energy through burning of the fuel.
You can find more about internal combustion engines here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combustion_engine

You can easily get your hands on mini electric motors that are often found in children's toys. Check out your local radio shack.
Getting your hand at a mini combustion engine would be harder I think.

Hope this helps.