Terminology (and grammar) is important. It's a motor, not an engine.
Yes terminology is important. As a scientist, I know that precision in communication is crucial. I also used to be a grammar Nazi. But there is often a difference between the technical and common definition of a word. And even between different technical fields, the same word can have different definitions. More and more, I've come to realize that language is fluid and there isn't really much of a point arguing these sorts of semantics.
If you went back to the original meaning of the word engine (as my couple years of high school Latin can attest), it would be fine for an electric motor. These days (especially in the context of transportation) the word engine implies some sort of combustion engine, so certain people like to make the distinction. But to go up to a lay person and say an electric car has no engine is just being unnecessarily confusing. Fortunately, the meaning of the word motor is more general* and more obvious. A motor is something that imparts motion. In space flight, often the individual rocket engines are referred to as motors. (This can confuse some people since, for them, the word implies something spinning.) Clearly the word motor is ok to use when referring to an ICE. So I say if someone insists that you use the word motor instead of engine, that person should really specify that it's an electric motor (e-motor is a good term to promote), since motor driven could mean it's a rocket!! :wink:
Then there is the old 'gas pedal' / 'throttle' nomenclature issue as well.
I think it makes sense to correct the terms "gas pedal" and "throttle" since we do want to emphasize that an electric car is not using liquid fuel, and we have the word "accelerator" which works perfectly fine. ("I'm sure the manual will indicate which lever is the
velocitator and which is the
deceleratrix."- M. Burns)
"Gas pedal" may persist, though, since terms coined for a particular function within a type of technology can often stick around for the analogous function when the technology changes.
And oddly enough, "throttle" may eventually be ok in this context by its own right. Technically a throttle is something that regulates the flow of a fluid (liquid or gas), but the trend in the vernacular is that it's being generalized to mean regulate anything. This might be because some people can't tell that the sentence, "Throttle back your enthusiasm." contains a metaphor. Ironically, this brings "throttle" closer to it's earlier, pre-technical meaning of to suppress or choke.
[
Edit: Just remembered this thread,
http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/technical-discussion/380-torque-pedal.html, where I made somewhat similar comments. Even used the same Simpsons quote.]
Also, 'quick' vs 'fast'. When someone says a Tesla is 'faster' than a Ferrari I wince because to me 'fast' is top speed, and 'quick' is 0-60 acceleration.
Quick and fast essentially mean the same thing, so not much sense making that distinction. However, to say "A Tesla is faster (or quicker for that mater) than a Ferrari." is misleading marketing spin. To be accurate they should just specify "shorter 0-60 time" or whatever metric they're using.
*
"general" is one of those words that has a different meaning for scientists than it does for laymen.
