Electric vehicles have many benefits, including their electric motors have only 5 moving parts compared to the hundreds of moving parts in the typical internal combustion engine that most other cars have, providing easier maintenance. Also, the car, itself, does not have any tailpipe emissions like the combustion engine cars. They are also more efficient at converting stored energy to driving power than their counterparts.
Along with these benefits also come disadvantages. One handicap is that electric vehicles are generally more expensive because of the batteries needed to power them. Also, they have a limited range, making people weary to buy them because they don't know if they'll be able to make their destination or not, and even though the car doesn't produce any harmful emissions, the process of producing electricity to produce the power for the cars produces harmful emissions into the air, evening out the benefits gained from the car.
So overall, maybe these cars can be the car of the future even though they were invented and used before the 20th century, and with more money being budgeted for them with Washington's new budget, it looks like the future is looking up for these electric vehicles.
The hybrids have been around for some time now. Usually, they consume electricity when driving at lower speeds and are powered by the combustion engine at higher speeds. Do you have any idea of how fast these electric cars can run?
ReplyDeleteA nice article! I really appreciate that you consider pros and cons in your posts.
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting to think about the potential for these cars on the market. Certainly, folks who are environmentally and economically oriented will consider them (esp as gas prices go up). But I don't know if they'll really be able to displace the American love affair with powerful (and gas-guzzling) autos. Have you seen any discussion of that?