Many people today assume that electric cars are a recent invention. It may come as a surprise to learn that the first electric vehicles were invented in the mid 19th century and held the record for highest vehicular land speed up to around 1900. However, the production and use of electric cars declined over the years due to their high production costs, short battery lives, and low top speeds. The interest in electric cars is slowly gaining prominence again in recent years mostly due to the environmental concerns raised by the substantial use of hydrocarbon fueled vehicles. Governments are shifting their focus, and electric cars are being more and better known as years go by and are also owned by a few people. It is time to recognize electric cars as the next generation of cars as it is not only better for the long run but currently better and safer than regular cars. The factors and features that make the electric car better than regular cars and why electric vehicles should be owned are now going to be discussed.
A reason why electric cars should replace hydrocarbon fueled cars is their consideration for the environment. Although it cannot be said that electric vehicles do not pollute the environment completely, they cause way less pollution than regular cars. According to studies already done by several environmental protection agencies, car emissions will be rapidly reduced overall if more people were to start using electric vehicles than normal cars (Dimitropoulos 2016). An electric vehicle produces zero direct emissions. Even plug in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), which have electric motors as well as gasoline engines, still produce much fewer emissions when they are using gasoline because they have been proven to be more efficient than conventional vehicles.
Unlike conventional vehicles that use non renewable energy sources, electric vehicles energy source is renewable. This is because electric cars use electricity and modern technologies. According to Gelmanova (2018), an electric car user just needs to connect to an electricity grid and recharge when they run out of fuel. A typical electric vehicle uses almost 0.2 kilowatt hours of electricity for every kilometer covered. A fully charged electric car can move continuously for between 6-8 hours before it needs to be recharged (Gelmanova 2018). Of course, these vehicles might be expensive to buy but they have been proven to cost less in electricity charges than normal cars cost on gas and fuel. Currently, global warming is a huge concern. Fuels products have been said to contribute the most in global warming as they produce a high percentage of carbon dioxide and methane to the atmosphere which are responsible for global warming (Dimitropoulos 2016). With the introduction of electric cars there is good news that global warming is likely to have a declining trend. This is because electric cars consume low levels of fuels so it minimizes pollution by alot .
In terms of safety, electric cars have been tested and found to be much safer than regular cars. In the event that a regular car crashes its likely to catch fire more quickly than an electric car found in the same situation (Helmers 2017). This is because regular cars run on gasoline, a highly flammable chemical fuel. Currently, regular cars hold the record of the most fatal accidents which have ended a large number of lives. Although the manufacture and supply of electric cars is low, it is worth knowing that the security of electric cars is not comparable to fuel cars. Moreover, an electric car needs way less mechanical components to run than a normal car since the manufacturing relies heavily on modern technology. This means that electric cars are less likely to get damaged, wear and tear, and the vehicles internal infrastructure uses less space. Most of the accidents occur due to wear and tear which rarely happens to electric cars. According to Gelmanova (2018), the engines of electric cars is highly efficient indicating low petroleum consumption. In case an accident occurs, it is not likely to be as bad compared to regular cars. Electric cars are more comfortable and secure than regular cars.
Electric cars also have a financial advantage over regular cars. Even though they are more expensive to buy than regular fueled cars, electric cars are cheaper to use and maintain in the long run. After purchasing electric cars, the maintenance costs are very low compared to fuel cars. The fact that wear and tear occurs slowly indicates that car to be cost efficient. Comparisons have revealed that the amount of money used to buy electricity used for charging an electric vehicle is about a third as much used to buy petrol for the same vehicle, per km (Herman2019). This makes electric cars more price friendly in long run. Furthermore, electric cars have fewer moving parts than regular cars, which make their maintenance easier and cheaper as they require less mechanical servicing. Buying electric cars will fix the economy of multiple countries all around the world.
However, the idea of introducing electric cars into the motor vehicle industry has been criticized along the way. One group that is against this development said that the battery range of an electric car is extremely limited, stating that the current best range for an electric vehicle is the 85kWh battery Model S. the point here is that the efficiency of electric cars are compromised. But developers can guarantee that this limitation will not be around for long. Models are already being developed and tested that can allow driving for more than 200 miles before the need for a recharge. There is improvement but the batteries under development are smaller than expected, about the size of a laptop.
Another argument against electric cars is that a lot of time is required to recharge an electric car. It is said that most Americans have not yet gotten the idea of buying electric cars because they are afraid that recharging the vehicles will take up a lot of their time (Rus 2019). There is no electronic device that can charge instantly, not even the smallest most simple mobile phone. People all over the world who care about the environment might have to pay that price for some time. But that shouldn’t be a reason to worry. A lot of funds have been invested in battery technology research especially in decreasing charging times and increasing storage capacities. Recently big developments has been made that made a realization on improving lithium ion battery structure to gain charging speeds over twenty times faster than the current ones.
Probably the most known idea of electric cars is that they are too expensive. Many buyers complain that they cost way too much. However, the available data and information to support this argument is inconsistent. A year ago, the cheapest new electric car was going for 24,000 dollars. Today, the most affordable electric vehicle that could hold a family goes for roughly 30,000 dollars, which is lower than the average price of a new conventional car going for an average of 32,000 dollars (Wilberforce 2017). With these prices it is clear that the average American can afford an electric vehicle. Also, an electric car will cost one more than a regular car would in the long run. The concept is the same as building a new house and renting one.
Lastly, the most pointless argument against electric cars is that they are just as bad to the environment as regular cars. electric cars doubters often bring it up when all their other arguments have been backfired and countered. The case is based on a survey done at North Carolina State University, claiming that electric cars and hybrids would not reduce America’s air polluting emissions even if the cars made up 42% of all passenger cars in the States. But the survey was disapproved by a similar case by the Union of Concerned Scientists, which gave reliable counter argument results.
In conclusion, the electric car industry has realized recently that it is not only highly appreciated, but also highly required to the increasing cases of environmental issues. As written in this paper, the advantages of electric vehicles heavily outweigh the interests brought up by the critics of the industry. The large adoption of electric vehicles is linked to cost, since the price of gas and gasoline powered vehicles is assumed lower and both are available. But, as shown in this paper, improvements in technology are rapidly increasing and hopefully, the use of electric cars will soon take charge over regular vehicles. As is shown in this study, we believe that throughout the following decade mechanical progression and strategy changes will help indicate the progress from fuel controlled cars. Furthermore, the achievement and success of this depends on the international population of people and it is important that people will feel enhanced and active to drive an electric vehicle. Every person can have any kind of effect and make a change, so let us all go out and make a difference
Works Cited
Dimitropoulos, Alexandros, et al. “Not fully charged: Welfare effects of tax incentives for employer-provided electric cars.” Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 78 (2016): 1-19.
Gelmanova, Z. S., et al. “Electric cars. Advantages and disadvantages.” Journal of Physics: Conference Series. Vol. 1015. No. 5. IOP Publishing, 2018.
Helmers, Eckard, Johannes Dietz, and Susanne Hartard. “Electric car life cycle assessment based on real-world mileage and the electric conversion scenario.” The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 22.1 (2017): 15-30.
Herman, Renaud. How the introduction of electric cars is disrupting the car industry?. MS thesis. UHasselt, 2019.
Rus, C., et al. “Electric cars as environmental monitoring IoT Network.” IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering. Vol. 572. No. 1. IOP Publishing, 2019.
Wilberforce, Tabbi, et al. “Developments of electric cars and fuel cell hydrogen electric cars.” International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 42.40 (2017): 25695-25734.
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