Will Your Next Car be Electric?

Environmental concerns, government incentives and the ever-improving models make it a deal to consider

Although many of us think of electric vehicles as the modern alternative to our existing means of transportation yet the existence of this concept can be traced back to 1830s when a motorized carriage was built by Scotland’s Robert Anderson. This carriage was powered by non-rechargeable primary power cells.

By 1859 the batteries of electric vehicles could be recharged and by 1884 Thomas Parker helped deploy electric-powered trams and built prototype electric cars in England.

In the U.S., the first successful electric car made its debut around 1890 thanks to William Morrison, a chemist who lived in Des Moines, Iowa. His six-passenger vehicle capable of a top speed of 14 miles per hour was little more than an electrified wagon, but it helped spark interest in electric vehicles.

Over the next few years, electric vehicles from different automakers began popping up across the U.S. New York City even had a fleet of more than 60 electric taxis. By 1900, electric cars were at their heyday, accounting for around a third of all vehicles on the road. During the next 10 years, they continued to show strong sales.

The electric vehicles lost their charm against the internal combustion engine which proved much cheaper and efficient for private vehicle owners. Although they were still used as the form of loading and freight equipment and public transport like rail vehicles as the general public preferred gasoline cars, the advancement in electrical vehicle faced a sharp decline.

It wasn’t until 1970 that the increasing oil prices and gasoline shortages diverted our attention back to the electric vehicles. The electric cars however still faced the same problems as before and they didn’t become popular due to their lower performance and high cost in comparison to gasoline-powered vehicles.

The boom of electric vehicles

It took us a couple of decades to comprehend the impact of petrol and diesel vehicles on our environment.

The passage of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendment and the 1992 Energy Policy Act — plus new transportation emissions regulations issued by the California Air Resources Board — helped create a renewed interest in electric vehicles in the U.S.

The high availability, low cost and performance was still a real barrier for widespread adoption and thus the progress towards electric vehicles was slow but over the years a lot of new research and development involving electric vehicles transpired with many new startups eyeing this as a game-changer disruptive innovation to compete against the huge auto giants who had an unchallenged dominance for almost a century.

In the face of an ever-increasing challenge by the new EV startups like Tesla, NIO and more recently Lucid the established car manufacturer also began changing some of their popular vehicle models into electric vehicles. In the last couple of years, the pace of developments in the arena has been growing exponentially powered by policy change in response to environmental awakening. Thus with collective advancement and interest electric vehicles gained more popularity.

Serious environmental concerns

Conventional vehicles have a devastating impact on our environment, fuel extraction, transportation and oil spills all contribute to environmental pollution.

When cars burn these fuels, they become the greatest contributor to air pollution. pollutants like carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter are released into the air which proves disastrous to human health and accelerates the climate change.

On the other hand, air and noise pollution can be reduced considerably by switching to electric vehicles.

Over a year, just one electric car on the roads can save an average 1.5 million grams of CO2

~By Marta Moses | February 15, 2020(Benefits of electric cars on the environment)

Leading nations of the world have recognized the benefits of electric vehicles and introduced incentives for their people to own and run electric cars by giving easy loans, free parking spaces and city congestion tax reductions and also by providing an infrastructure for convenient EV charging.

Nations encouraging the use of electric vehicles

Norway

Recently Norway has become the first country to sell more electric cars than petrol, hybrid and diesel engines put together. This was anticipated as Norway has always led the path to electric car transition.

They offered reductions on purchase and road tax of electric cars and also introduced savings of 50% to parking, ferry charges and road toll. They facilitated a well-organized charging infrastructure thus making use of electric cars convenient and profitable for individuals.

France

The government of France has introduced a subsidy of 1,000 euros specifically for the purchase of used purely electric cars and extended the environmental bonus and the conversion premium in their current amounts until June 2021

They also support a convenient charging network reduced cost of EVs and offered attractive grants.

The United Kingdom

UK government has recently announced a two-step phase-out process for petrol and diesel vehicles. According to this all-new petrol and diesel vehicle sales will be banned by 2030. They also introduced purchase grants, tax benefits and subsidies to encourage their citizens towards buying more environmentally friendly transport alternatives.

They aim to facilitate the transition to zero-emission road transport by giving purchase incentives convenient alternatives.

USA

The USA weaved all federal taxes dependent on fuel consumption and buyers of electric cars are also entitled to a federal tax credit of 7000 US dollars but this is only applicable total sales of electric cars have reached 200000 units for the company.

In July 2018, Tesla Inc. was the first plug-in manufacturer to pass 200,000 sales and the full tax credit was available until the end 2018, with the phase out beginning in January 2019.[277] General Motors combined sales of plug-in electric vehicles passed 200,000 units in November 2018. The full tax credit was available until the end of March 2019 and thereafter reduced gradually until complete phase out beginning on April 1, 2020

China

China has the biggest market for electric vehicles resulting from some of the most attractive incentives by the government including cost-effectiveness and variety of choice for electric models.

The Chinese Government has introduced numerous policy incentives to promote the development and adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), especially aggressive subsidization policies. Stimulated by such policies, sales of EVs exceeded 500,000 in 2016. .

All over the world countries are introducing motivations for their citizens to move to environmentally friendly vehicles boosting the overall demand for electric vehicles and the leading EV companies are striving towards manufacturing low cost more efficient varieties in this sector.

EV Manufacturers and the latest developments

Tesla

Tesla is a leading American electric vehicle and clean energy manufacturer based in California. Their latest innovation is a “tabless” battery that could improve an electric car’s range and power. They aim to produce in-house batteries which are anticipated to reduce the cost and eventually enable them to sell electric vehicles for the same price as gasoline-powered cars.

“a massive breakthrough” that would dramatically increase the performance of electric vehicles while simultaneously making them more affordable.

A new shingled spiral design of Tesla’s lithium-ion battery will transform the way energy can be stored and charged within a lithium-ion battery, offering five-times more energy, a 16 per cent increase in range and 500 per cent more power. ~Elon musk

NIO

NIO is an automobile manufacturer based in China. They are also the forerunners in the electric vehicle industry. They are exploring the idea of battery swapping thus reducing the total cost and cutting the charging time.

NIO launched a Battery as a Service (BaaS) subscription model that lets owners deal with charging needs by simply having a fresh battery pack installed in a matter of minutes. Users have the option of signing up for different battery sizes and making the exchange at special Power Swap stations. The service allows Nio to sell vehicles without a battery. It’s essentially “batteries not included” on a large scale, and according to Nio, it can save buyers about $10,000 off the price of a vehicle.

General Motors Company

General Motors Company(GM) is an American multinational corporation which are one of the world’s largest automobile manufacturers. They are also targeting towards more environment-friendly efficient vehicles.

The heart of GM’s strategy is a modular propulsion system and a highly flexible, third-generation global EV platform powered by proprietary Ultium batteries. They will allow the company to compete for nearly every customer in the market today, whether they are looking for affordable transportation, a luxury experience, work trucks or a high-performance machine.

The above companies just give a glimpse into the ever-increasing world of electric vehicle innovations. Manufacturers are striving each day to make more attractive and cost-effective EVs.

Perception change over the years

Just a few years ago it was a rare sight to see Electric Vehicles charging at a fuel stop on the motorway with cars limited to lavish sports models beyond the reach of the general public.

We still see that people don’t really realize that electric cars are here right now. And when we show up with an actual vehicle, and you see it drive away under its own power, it’s still kind of a jaw-dropping moment for a lot of people. ~Franz von Holzhausen

The scenario is changing rapidly with government incentives, environmental awareness and manufactures innovations in cost reduction and convenience of EV usage. Thus making it a better option for everyone.

Many people are now opting for electric cars and with nations aiming towards zero-emission targets, conventional vehicles are soon going to be the talk of the past.