Why Electric Vehicles are the Future of Transportation

Exploring the various factors which will make the future of our transportation electric.

There are over 1.2 billion vehicles that exist across the world today and nearly every single one of them runs in some form of gasoline or fossil fuel-based engines to power them.

We are quite familiar with gasoline and diesel-powered cars as they are an essential part of every person’s life in the developed nations and in developing nations mopeds and bikes are also an essential form of transportation. This has been the story for decades and might still continue for a few more years.

The age of electricity-based vehicles is increasing and the age of fossil fuel-powered vehicles is likely coming to an end a lot sooner than many of us will like to admit or acknowledge. Our society loves powerful cars and these have always been favorites for enthusiasts but we are seeing a transition as people are choosing electric vehicles and are considering them to be their next dream car.

This trend is because most of us understand that fossil fuel-powered vehicles are contributing substantially to the overall global climate crisis. The transportation industry, in general, is currently contributing around sixteen percent of all the world's greenhouse gas emissions. This contribution consists of rail at one percent, aviation, cargo, and cruise contribute ten percent each, and on-road vehicles such as trucks, buses, and other large vehicles contribute about thirty percent which is three times the emission of the entire aviation industry. The rest which is around fifty percent is contributed by cars, SUVs, bikes, and mopeds.

This indicates that about seven percent of emissions are coming out of vehicles that run on our roads which we tend to use nearly every single day. This emission is likely only going to increase in the future because the demand for personal transportation is substantially increasing as the world’s population continues to explode. This is also because the affordability and necessity of personal transportation are becoming better in various parts of the world.

Whether or not there is going to be enough space to park or drive our vehicles on the road, the international energy agency expects the number of vehicles to double by the year 2060 and the demand for aviation to triple by the year 2070. This is going to dramatically increase global emissions and this is not compatible with international climate agreements. The most widespread agreements i.e., “The Paris Accords” have been formally accepted by nearly every country in the world and aims to prevent the global temperature from reaching two degrees celsius higher than the pre-industrial levels in the 19th century.

This aim is quite tedious to achieve and thus nations around the world plan to make significant cuts to their emissions over the next decade and one of the most obvious ways to achieve that by reducing the emissions from the transportation industry. The most obvious way to reduce these emissions is by getting more people to adopt electric vehicles.

There is a belief that EVs have the same impact as gas-powered vehicles but the belief is a misconception as no one sees the long-term impacts, yes it is true that EVs have a similar if not larger carbon footprint to be produced but in the long run, when we switch to more renewable resources for electricity production and efficient forms of manufacturing EVs are far more ecological compared to their fossil fuel counterparts.

This simple fact is why governments and nations around the world are making plans and implementing them to completely change their societies into abandoning fossil fuel vehicles and adopt EVs.

Several nations in the EU already have some form of restrictions for petrol and diesel-powered vehicles by the year 2027 and countries like The United Kingdom and India plan to switch to all-electric by the year 2030. Japan which has been somewhat of a global leader in the manufacture, import, and export of cars plans to shift to an all-electric model by the year 2035 which will have one of the largest impacts on a global scale as it is the largest and most influential markets in the world with brands like Toyota, Honda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Mazda, etc.

The United States needs to step up its game being a world leader that every country looks up it should come up with plans at the federal level to eliminate new fossil-fuel vehicle sales and help citizens to adopt EVs by setting up infrastructure as the various states lack the necessary infrastructure to support the growth of EVs despite having companies like Tesla who are spearheading the change in the industry.

More information can be found in this article:- Current State of EV’s

The Chinese government is also looking into this transformation with companies such as NIO and XPeng innovating in various departments such as battery swap technology and Electric aviation vehicles with no solid timelines for a countrywide change planned yet but it looks positive as it is one of the largest markets for vehicles as half of the world’s total EV's are located within the nation.

We as a collective society need to look into a global change to avoid developed nations dumping fossil fuel-powdered vehicles into the developing world to avoid a stark contrast between various societies if it is not planned properly we might limit the climate-saving impacts of ditching petrol and diesel-powered vehicles. Forward-thinking policies adopted by the EU, Japan, and Israel to ban the export or import of petrol and diesel-powered cars and government-regulated recycling policies are a step in the right direction.

The world is currently at the tipping point of EV adoption and we will see this transition happening in the coming decades starting as early as 2025 and every automobile manufacturer can see the writing on the wall if they do not find a way to adapt and adopt these policies they will be left behind. One of the biggest automobile manufacturers Volkswagen has even pledged to transition to an all-electric lineup by the end of the decade.

Humanity is at a crossroads and if it doesn't take these necessary steps to reduce emissions by the end of the century global temperatures will skyrocket and thus lead to catastrophic consequences around the world.

Along with the government corporations and industry leaders, people like us should also contribute our efforts so we can have a better tomorrow.