We don’t think the world would ever move to electric cars if there were no environmental issues. And perhaps it’s good. Ecological considerations made engineers work on a new technology that turned out to be amazing. Now we don’t need to use fuel, harm our environment, and exhaust natural resources. Governments of many countries decided to prohibit the use of fuel-powered cars:
- Sweden should move to EV by 2030;
- France plans to stop using fuel cars by 2040;
- Great Britain wants to achieve zero-emission by 2050 or earlier;
The majority of countries in the EU somehow try to reduce the number of cars with internal combustion engines. If you don’t go into the details, you think that it’s good. People operate only on the information they’ve heard somewhere. But what about going deeper? No technology or device has any drawbacks, and EV isn’t the exclusion. Today we’ll shed light on this case so that you’ll learn more about these cars.
What Are The Advantages of Electric Cars?
We decided that it’s better to start by describing the positive moments since they are more significant for us and the whole planet.
EV doesn’t spend the unrenewable resources
Natural gas-powered cars have one important disadvantage — they spend the natural resources we need for some other purposes. Oil and gas are very expensive. Moreover, the more fuels we mine, the less there are left. But people must remember that Earth’s resources aren’t limitless, and we still need these resources to live. You’ve probably heard about the synthetic fuels for petrol cars, but it’s impossible to predict when they’ll become a standard if they can.
EV is a quiet vehicle
Noise pollution levels in many countries are too high, and the huge flows of fuel-powered cars are the key reason for it. Moreover, the traffic noise remains high even at night. People exposed to it suffer from stress, sleep disorders, lack of focus, declining productivity, etc.
EV is a cheaper than fuel-powered one
The opponents of electric cars usually state that having an EV can’t be cheaper since electricity costs money. Let’s put aside this question since the electricity cost is different in countries. And what about maintenance? The electric car is certainly cheaper. It doesn’t require you to fuel it, change oil and replace certain details. Fuel-powered and electric cars have differences in structure, and EVs have fewer moving parts that may fail.
EV is eco-friendly
Have you ever thought about your carbon footprint? It’s the total amount of all CO2 emissions you’ve generated. If you own a petrol car, you can’t even imagine how huge this amount is. All-electric vehicles have zero emissions. It would be good if all people who live in mega-cities moved to electric vehicles — the air would become clearer, it would be easy to breathe.
EV owners may get tax credits
The governments of many countries respect people who purchase environmentally-friendly cars and offer them to get tax credits and get an advantage of other state incentives. The prices for electric cars aren’t much higher than the prices of petrol cars, but taxes are extremely high sometimes. The government realizes that taxes stop a large percentage of people from buying EVs, so they do their best to encourage people.
Those people who don’t drive one car for a long time may be surprised that electric car costs don’t go down as fast as the prices of petrol vehicles. That’s why if you decide to sell it you can set a high price and people will buy it. If you add the benefit of tax credits with the decreasing cost of solar panels for generating electricity, it is a big win-win. You can save money and help cut down on pollution.
Disadvantages of Electric Vehicles
There are certain disadvantages electric car owners face.
Charging stations
If you want to buy an EV, the advantages aren’t everything you should consider before choosing a car. It’s hard to tell that EVs are new, but not all cities and even countries have the necessary infrastructure for them. For example, if your city lacks charging stations and you used to drive long distances, it will be difficult and inconvenient to you to drive such a car. There is no portable battery you can take with you and recharge, so learn more about the available charging stations before making a final decision.
EV has a shorter range
Tesla is a benchmark in the world of electric vehicles, and the recent models can drive up to 400-500 km on a single charge; other cars’ average range is 200-300 km, and it’s not that much. Proceed from your needs: if you travel a lot or the work requires you to visit many nearby cities, purchase a more expensive car with a larger range. If you use the car to get to college or go shopping, a cheaper one will be enough. By the way, many colleges make students go electric. If you have some interesting thoughts about this trend, you may create a project or essay to impress your teacher. All students ask for help with these papers, and we advise you to do the same or look through some free public health essays and papers to cope with the college tasks faster.
The personal charging station is expensive
Having an electric car and charging it in parking lots makes no sense. Each person who thinks about getting an EV should think about the recharge point he or she should purchase. You need to buy this point and install it. That also costs enough. It would be good if we could recharge cars with a plug, but the power isn’t enough.
EV battery needs to be replaced
Any battery capacity worsens, and the car isn’t an exclusion. We’ve mentioned the electric cars don’t have expensive maintenance. It’s true besides the battery replacement. Of course, it’s not necessary to change it each year; the battery life depends on the model: one car can work up to 10 years without replacement, whereas the other needs a new battery each 3-4 years.
A little choice
If you used to buy petrol cars only, you might be disappointed after seeing the number of available models of electric cars. The market is expanding, and more companies announce the manufacturing or release of electric cars. But we are sure that in 4-5 years the number of models will be higher.