Electric Autos: Driving Our Future
In the next year electric cars, or zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) as they are often referred to, will be an everyday sight on streets right across the world. The stuff of science fiction books will have become science fact.
Basic electric vehicles are already available to motorists in some countries and are set to become significantly more sophisticated and widespread in the next few years.
The concept of an electric vehicle is nothing new, it has been around for decades. However, the pressing need to cut carbon emissions in an attempt to slow global warming has quickened the development of this next generation of road transport.
Affordable electric cars and ZEVs are already being manufactured and will soon be widely available in showrooms around the globe. We are already familiar with hybrid cars, which have been around for many years. These cars use both electric and gasoline propulsion to help reduce emissions. Electric vehicles take eco-friendly motoring to a higher level, in that they have no emissions at all – they don’t even have a tail pipe. The benefits of this are likely to be dramatic, especially in polluted heavily populated areas, as electric vehicles and ZEVs become commonplace.
So how does the electric car work? Electric vehicles use electric motors and motor controllers instead of the traditional internal combustion engine. Instead of standard gasoline, these vehicles are powered by electricity from battery packs, although cutting edge methods of energy storage are being developed that should replace battery packs in the near future. As we speak, special filling stations for the electric vehicle revolution are springing up on roadsides around the globe where drivers can stop and refuel their electric vehicles, just like at a normal filling station.
That said, for many motorists, the transition from the standard gasoline car that we all know and love to electric cars and ZEVs will require quite a big leap of faith. However, electric cars have so many things going for them that the transition should be a pretty easy one.
Running costs – The fact that electric cars are cheaper to run and cost less to keep on the road will likely win over their most steadfast opponents. Car owners will get far more miles for their dollar and the expense of maintaining these cars will be a lot cheaper than servicing a normal car.
Global warming – As electric vehicles become more common, the benefits to the environment will be huge. This is especially the case in large urban areas where smog and air pollution at street level presents a serious health hazard to people.
Some worries do remain over electric cars, such as how long it takes to recharge battery packs, the top speeds and acceleration of the cars, and concerns such as handling and performance. However, as car manufacturers pump more and more resources into perfecting these vehicles, these worries are likely to be dealt with sooner rather than later.