Seeing articles all over the major media and on the news about how wonderful electric cars are and how they are the answer to our pollution concerns (global warning) and dependence on foreign oil We decided that it was time to do some investigating to get to the bottom line and answer the question - "Are electric cars going to be our salvation?"
We must consider several facets of these cars to evaluate their potential - cost, maintenance, operating cost, practicality, convenience, demand, and in this situation, impact on the environment.
Current and "coming soon" electric cars are expensive. The handful of electric cars that are close to production cars and can be purchased are the Mini E, manufactured by BMW, and the Tesla. The Mini E is in a test phase in the United States where some people were able to lease the Mini E for $850.00 a month. That's twice as much as you could drive a gas powered Toyota Camry, Corolla or Honda Accord. The Tesla has a MSRP of $109,000. The Chevy Volt is expected to retail for around $40,000 and it is a hybrid. The Nissan Leaf is projected to be $25 - 30,000, but look for that to be very close to the higher side. These cars come with up to a $7,500.00 tax credit, but someone is paying for that - US taxpayers. The tax credits do not last forever as they are phased out. Once a manufacturer sells 60,000 vehicles, the credit gradually decreases over a period of 15 months. EVs cost significantly more than their gas powered cousins. A strike against electrics.
Maintenance costs for hybrids have been shown to be in line with the standard cars and this should be the case with electric cars. Maintenance costs could actually be less. The edge goes to electrics.
Many experts have it will be cheaper to operate the electric cars per mile than gasoline powered cars, but it is not without issues. We'll still give the edge electrics here.
Electric cars will have a surprisingly negative impact on the environment. They'll drastically cut car emissions, but they'll drive up utility plant emissions, and most burn coal, a major carbon producer, to produce electric in the US. Experts show power plants are more efficient at producing the energy required for propelling a car, but this does not take into consideration the inefficiencies which exist in the transport of electricity. Only 31% of electricity produced ever reaches the plugs in your house. Not very efficient. We'll have to produce more electricity for the electric cars, and in spite of the extra productivity, the lost efficiencies in the transmitting system virtually wipe it out. The current battery technology being used is lithium-ion batteries, the same basic technology as those in your laptop. These batteries contain some very nasty chemicals and while they can be recycled, that costs money, uses electricity, and has waste materials left that must be safely disposed of. Today's electric cars will cause more harm to the environment than not. A very big loss for EVs!
Looking at practicality and convenience the modern electric cars lose very badly. The distance capable between re-charging is extremely low with the best being reported by Tesla with 250 miles, but this is under ideal circumstances. As soon as you throw in real life situations of weather, varying speeds, use of a heater or air conditioner, stereo, etc. the driving distance is greatly reduced with people reporting less than half of that. And this is the best performance! The reality of production models is a range between 40 and 100 miles between charges, and this is not practical. Then throw in the recharging time.
On a standard household current you are looking at times between 8 and 16 hours! Now if you want to equip your house with a special charge docking station to provide a 220-volt line (same as your dryer), then you can cut the charge time down significantly. But again the best reported charging times are in the 3 to 5 hour range. What if you need your car faster than that? What about charging stations? Long trips are definitely out. Pundits say you should use your 2nd car for these. Who has a second car? If I could afford a second car, I would just get a nicer one.
The most affordable electric car, the Nissan Leaf, is reported to require eight hours to re-charge on 220 service and double that on a standard 110, with a maximum distance of 100 miles between charges (this has been disputed by experts suggesting 75 is the real max). We haven't even gotten to the fact the power grid will have many issues handling the extra demand, and these cars will probably be more dangerous in a car crash. Electric cars lose and lose big on practicality and convenience.
Electric cars may be the future, but only after the technology is significantly upgraded from where we are today. The hybrid car is a much better choice for the typical driver and the environment.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/automotive-articles/are-electric-cars-really-the-answer-2961412.html
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