technology blog
6 April

Exploring the Next Phase for Electric Car Development

When the idea first caught on as a real possibility in eventually replacing internal combustion engine cars, electric cars were still in for quite a period of testing and refinement in their development. Naturally, some feathers in the oil industry were ruffled and a lot of noise was made around how ineffective electric cars are considering the bigger picture of how the energy they use is produced, but a considerable amount of time has since passed and some exciting developments are emerging from the electric car market.

Nowadays, electric vehicles are seen practically everywhere. To begin with, more and more consumers are favourably looking at EVs or electric vehicles as solutions to carbon emission woes from combustion engines. Businesses are also looking at small trucks and utility vehicles for their transportation purposes as they tend to be more economical and eco-friendly. So, it can be said that the trajectory that the EV world is heading in is indeed, sustainable and practical.

Identified challenges

Perhaps the biggest challenge identified when it comes to the intended impact of electric cars is that of how this impact is proving really difficult to measure. In a market and industry which is still developing, gauging the effectiveness of something like an electric car’s reduced environmental impact is really challenging, although the outlook for the future is rather positive. One argument against electric cars is one which I already touched on, that being the source of the energy which is used to recharge the cars’ batteries. Most if not all of this power channeled through the charging stations is still sourced via conventional means, which are heavily reliant on the burning of fossil fuels.

This apparently defeats the purpose of using what is otherwise a cleaner source of energy, however since electric cars produce no harmful emissions akin to those released by those running on internal combustion engines, in that regard electric cars have one up on fuel-burning vehicles.

One of the real challenges with charging stations is that they can be hard to source which can make recharging less convenient than refuelling combustible engine cars. This is often cited as one of the factors affecting electric car uptake by consumers. Though recently many services like Aardvark Electric, Inc. / electricians in Sandy Springs have begun offering installation services to residential areas which may help address this.

Another challenge tied to electric cars is that of their prospective owners not really being able to work out the total cost associated with the running and maintenance of their environmentally progressive cars, with too many variables hanging in the air around the cost implications of battery depreciation as well as electricity costs. More documentation is needed so that electric car owners can accurately calculate their costs, as well as any potential savings against combustion engine cars.

Identified advantages

All of that said however, we definitely have to start somewhere if we’re to solve what is definitely a problem in the amount of harmful gasses our internal combustion engine cars pour into the atmosphere by the second, so there are definitely some advantages to electric vehicles which can only serve as a base on which to build for the future.

Local air pollution is one such glaring advantage, so at least if there are more electric cars in a specific area, the air in the immediate and surrounding areas is nice and clean, something which naturally improves the quality of one’s life.

The way forward

The way forward is that of looking towards cleaner, renewable sources of energy to charge up the batteries used in electric cars, such as hydropower, wind power, solar power and even nuclear power. Some argue that clean energy would be more widespread if not for oil companies’ unwillingness to embrace change, but the move towards sustainable use of cars starts with the people and their driving habits.

So, if you’re one who has freshly completed their driving test and has gotten their license, you might want to consider picking up an electric model. This is simply because of the fact that, unless you can finance a pricey and efficient car, you will have to settle for second-hand models that have higher emissions than new ones. Weight the pros and cons of each car you like, and choose one that delivers efficiency and does not release high emissions.

Whatever the case, electric cars can easily run on clean renewable energy as long as we encourage and support the infrastructure for it. Speaking of infrastructure, more uptake to EV charger installation will likely encourage the adoption of electric cars and potentially reduce emissions and pollution further.

By way of the performance side of proceedings, electric cars have become so good that some of them can match the performance of an internal combustion engine in terms of speed and power, while residual energy is channeled back into the car’s power system through the likes of the harvesting of the kinetic energy generated when the car brakes, for example.

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