The Pros And Cons Of Electric Vehicles

As part of the United States planned greenhouse gas emissions reduction strategy, it is necessary for U.S. to consider the effect of new electricity services coming to the transportation sector. One such service that is gaining widespread interest is the electrification of personal transportation (also referred to as “passenger cars”) using Plug-in Electric Vehicles (PEV’s). The advantage of electrification of personal transportation leads to improved air quality and to reduce the U.S’s GHG contribution to global climate change.

With the automobile, came one of the most widely used technologies in the world, the invention of the internal combustion engine which has left a noticeable impact on many parts of today’s world. One of the most widely debated and controversial topics having to do with the automobile is its effect on the environment. Al Gore, former United States Vice President and Nobel Peace Prize award winner, has spent many years trying to argue the negative effects that the internal combustion engine leaves on our planet. In his presidential campaign in 2000, he preached the ideas of a cleaner environment and better ways of living. He said, “When we seek to artificially enhance our capacity to acquire what we need from the earth, we do so at the direct expense of the earth’s ability to provide naturally what we are seeking. We frequently ignore the impact of our technological alchemy on natural processes. When we manufacture millions of internal combustion engines and automate the conversion of oxygen to CO2, we interfere with the earth’s ability to cleanse itself of the impurities that are normally removed from the atmosphere.” He has led many people to believe that the automobile of today is leaving a terrible and lasting effect on the earth’s atmosphere, and that it is one of the primary causes of the term “Global Warming.” Although Gore has had a giant following and

“We can break our dependence on oil…and become the first country to have one million electric vehicles on the road by 2015,” President Obama said in his January 2011 State of the Union address (Institute for Energy Research 1). While this may sound promising, the practicality and merit in achieving this goal remains unclear. Auto manufacturers have been working on plans for electric cars for years, especially the three largest companies in the US: Chevrolet, Chrysler, and Ford. These companies have been hoping that the development of electric cars would create a sort of lifestyle change for consumers, both weaning the U.S. off of its dependence on foreign oil and breathing life into the market for auto sales at the same time. Electric cars are often sold as zero emissions, but technically that is only true once they are charged and in terms of their tailpipe emissions. After all, they have to get their energy from somewhere and, more often than not, the electricity used for charging is supplied by traditional coal fired power plants. The real question then is whether the source and amount of energy required to build and supply an electric car with power is actually cleaner and more economical than a traditional combustion automobile. As it turns out, the answer is both unexpected and fairly complicated. In order to assess whether the use of

The U.S government has been actively involved in overseeing emission standards for years. This corresponds with the statement made by the U.S Department of transportation that, “Transportation is the largest end-use sector emitting CO2”, and also the statement released by the NRCAN in which, “Fuel usage & carbon dioxide emissions have grown steadily over the past two decades.” These factors are only to be associated with your average four door sedan and/or light truck. These do not include your 18 wheelers, heavy trucks, or the gas guzzling vans that emit more carbon dioxide into the air and are also on the road more today than ever have been before. Cars are readily and easily obtainable more so now than ever have been. This creates more fuel to be burned up in which produces more toxins to be constantly released into the atmosphere. In fact, according to Scientific American “cars relate as much as 30 gallons of GHG, while only driving 3 miles.” These miles can be correlated with something just as simple as your average work commute. According to the United States Census Bureau, “Nearly 600,000 full-time workers had "megacommutes" of at least 90 minutes and 50 miles.” Those workers alone would each be releasing up to 500 gallons of GHG. These can be considered some of the bigger factors that the greenhouse gasses have taken a toll on.

Coffman, Makena, Paul Bernstein, and Sherilyn Wee. "Electric vehicles revisited: a review of factors that affect adoption." Transport Reviews, vol. 37, no. 1, (2017): 79-93.

Abstract—In this modern era, many advancements in technology have been witnessed. Research and data collected around the world have allowed for these advancements to take place. This has allowed for a better understanding of the footprint humans leave on the environment. As a result, this has allowed for the planet to become eco-friendlier. An eco-friendly advancement in the 21st century is the electric vehicle. There are a plethora of benefits using electric vehicles. Some advantages include no emissions, cost-effective, and low maintenance.

Electric vehicles began taking the market by storm when Nissan introduced its mass-production Leaf model in 2011. Since then, nearly every manufacturer has brought its own EV to the market. The future appears bright for EVs, especially as engineering improvements make them more efficient and cost-effective. That said, we will examine the good, the bad and the ugly of electric vehicles to help you make an informed decision about this emerging technology.

Cars consist of being the number one way of travel throughout the United States. We rely on them to transport us to work, activities and necessary destinations. With this constant use of vehicles, it has had a negative impact on the environment. Although cars were invented almost a century ago to make life easier with getting around, car pollution has been our number one source of air pollution and has significantly impacted our environment due to how accessible they are. Arising problems such as air pollution, global warming, and health issues of americans, we have to come to the understanding that our environment is at risk if the amount of car pollution continues to increase.

Imagine never being locked out of your disgusting gas-guzzling vehicle in sub-zero temperatures pumping your car full of toxic chemicals and then later emptying your bank account to pay for the environment killer ever again. This reality is near and approaching faster than ever before. Although, it is not completely beneficial. It is evident that at an international level, electric cars are needed. But, this is only one side of the story, despite common belief, electric vehicles are not always good for the environment. It is true that they will benefit bank accounts, however, the only way for electric cars to improve the environment is if they are powered by clean renewable energy.

Electric cars are becoming very popular in today’s world and are becoming more main stream. One reason for this is the need for automobiles that have a lower or a zero carbon footprint. For the majority of the history of the automobile, the propulsion system was a gas or a diesel engine that would run off of fossil fuels. The burning of fossil fuels is very hazardous to our world and also creates much toxic pollution. However, electric cars run off of electricity, which is a very clean and pollution free resource, depending on how the electricity was produced of course. In this paper we are going to examine the history of electric cars, look into modern electric car technology, and peer into the future of electric car technology to see if EVs might be the answer to dramatically reducing our global pollution.

Climate change occurs mainly because of human activities, such as harvesting resources, industrialization, and technological invention, among other factors. One of the main reasons climate change has occurred in the last a few decades is because conventional cars which made their first appearance in 1886, have become increasingly popular. Although, conventional cars are more efficient and less expensive than hybrid cars, hybrid cars help reduce the negative impact on the environment more than conventional cars. A Hybrid car has disadvantages due to the battery and power of the engine, which has to improve over time, which makes people less likely to buy hybrid cars over conventional cars in the present such as gas and diesel. Even though both conventional and electric cars have negative impact on the environment, they have different scale of impact on the environment. By looking at how each system of both types of cars work, what the effect on fuel consumption rate and greenhouse gas emissions are, and what the disadvantages of electric cars are compared to conventional cars, hybrid electric cars are less likely to negatively impact on the environment more than conventional cars.

 There is a serious problem facing the world right now.  It is air pollution.  The number one contributor to this epidemic is automobile emissions.  We have all heard of the issues that are involved with air pollution including the depletion of the o-zone layer, the green house effect, and acid rain.  The problem has been scoped from every imaginable angle, and now it is time to solve the problem.  I propose that each of the ‘Big Three’ (Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler) car manufacturers be required to have 10% of their product line as EV’s By the year 2010.  I propose this because it will be the start of cleaner air, EV advancement, and awareness of EV’s and how they work.

Cars are used by many people all over the world to get them from place to place. Most of these cars are powered by gasoline, some are powered by diesel, and some newly cars are powered electrically. Many people believe that electric cars can be the future of the car industry, but will most other car companies hurt from this? Electric cars use an electric motor to power the car instead of an engine, the owner of an electric car recharges the battery inside the car to power the motor. According to Tesla Motors, an electric car company, “Tesla possesses a high powered wall connector, which completely recharges the car in under 4 hours, and at max power, the high powered wall connector charges at a speed of 56 miles range per hour”(Tesla Motors “Tesla Vehicles Provide Attractive Environmental Benefits” 6). While electric cars do not have as much range as gas-powered cars, no emissions are made from the electric battery, which in result ends up benefiting to the environment.

Greenhouse gases come from such mainstays of modern life as electrical power plants, automobiles, and heavy industry. Growing consumption of fuel by less efficient cars and light trucks suggests that motor vehicles may soon overtake industry as the largest source of gases suspected of causing global warming by effectively creating a greenhouse around the Earth. Many people do not want to decrease their standard of living by reducing their consumption of fossil fuels. These people do not realize that if they reduce their consumption, there will be a reduction in the amount of greenhouse gases. If this does not happen and global warming continues, the long-term effects may be catastrophic.

Automobiles are a major producer of greenhouse gas. One gallon of fuel burned puts five pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Let’s say that an average car gets 25 miles to the gallon, and that car has a ten gallon tank. Every time a car gets filled up with gas, another fifty pounds of carbon dioxide have been put back into the atmosphere, and that is just one car. The automobile industry is very important to the world economy, so I am not saying that we should stop making cars, but there are other solutions. The recent trend of hybrid electric cars that get up to fifty miles to the gallon are becoming more popular. Also public transportation is very important. City dwellers that live downtown, do not need to drive their cars to work. Every major city has a form of public transportation that can get anyone around the city, and for that gallon of gas a bus burns the same five pounds reaches the atmosphere, but instead of one