Electric Cars are the Future of Road Transport - Paper Example

Climate change has been a major global problem which over the last decade, has scared most car manufacturers due to the cardio dioxide cap put on cars. This being the case, many countries have therefore adopted the electric car technology which has seen the production of electric vehicles or better known as electric vehicles (EVs) which use electrical energy that is stored in rechargeable batteries. Particularly, having been encouraged by the significant global uproar at the rising negative environmental impacts of fossil fuel based transportation infrastructure, these cars have been viewed with great interest and as co-benefits regarding reduced air pollution (Williams, 2016). For instance, with the focus to produce a green car that would not pollute the environment, Telsa produced its latest EV model two month ago. Thus, by examining the rate of electric vehicles deployment to the market and increasing concern with the climate change phenomena, the researcher seeks to prove that over the next decade, the electric car will be the future of road transport worldwide.

To begin with, electric vehicles are highly environmentally friendly owing to the fact that they are propelled using one or more electric motors which make use of electrical energy, stored in rechargeable batteries. This being the case, the adoption of these electric cars has been globally supported by a myriad of environmental groups, governments, and also special interest groups which have substantially given a promising future to the road global road transport. Besides, electric cars can be charged using solar energy, meaning that their energy is 100% renewable and does not pollute the environment (Kamath, 2015). According to the World Health Organization, the potential of the use of this form of renewables by the electric vehicles contributes to a considerable decarbonisation of the future road transport sector and hence an overall improvement in resource efficiency. Similarly, with the adoption of electric vehicles, the next decade is bound to benefit about the climate change phenomena in the sense that, most infrastructure would be modified to accommodate the increase in electric cars (Dunne, 2016). For this reason, electric vehicles will eventually become the primary mode of road transport, something that would see almost all fuel stations across the globe, become extinct.

Additionally, electric cars are an overly new phenomenon that is both promising to the movement, manufacturers, and car owners and their environment as it will be less costly about environmental destruction. According to a 2016 report by the New York Times, the world has almost no credible way to address climate change without having to change the current and extreme over-dependence on fossil fuels. With the modern day road transport infrastructure, the rate of exploitation of the fossil fuels, crude oil as well as other non-renewable sources of energy is extremely high. This, in essence, has significantly depleted the available fossil fuel resources and hence rendering them unsustainable. Besides, other than the fossil fuels being limited, they also are depleting at a very high rate since the current means of road transport has an overreliance on petrol, diesel alongside other derivatives by industries (Ryan, 2007). For these reasons, a slew consideration by both researchers, auto companies as well as global leaders with regard to the extensive adoption of electric cars offer real promise for the future decades. According to proponents, the increased growth of electric cars, combined with the surge in renewable sources of energy such as the wind and solar power can substantially reduce emissions over time.

Conversely, despite the many benefits and excellent efficiency that accompany the adoption of electric cars, they are very expensive. For instance, the initial capital for buying electric cars is very high as compared to the hybrid and traditional cards. Besides, the fact that electric cars make use of rechargeable batteries makes them even more expensive. With the electric car battery being the single most expensive component of the cars companies such as Tesla indicate that they only have the capacity to produce batteries for about $125 per kilowatt-hour. This, in essence, is considered to be extremely expensive when compared to the everyday use of fuel. Nonetheless, a majority of modern day automobile researchers suggest that the cost of electric cars can only be at parity with the conventional vehicles when automobile companies make available batteries costing $100 per kilowatt-hour or even lower (Dell, Moseley & Rand, 2014). In a similar regard, although electric cars can cover larger mileage of approximately 80-100 miles on a charge, as compared to the standard conventional vehicles, it would be overly expensive to adequately charge an elastic car for it to run for about 40 minutes before the need to recharge it. Similarly, the location of electric vehicles charging zone congestion charging zones may be far and might be inconvenienced for the car owners in case the power is fully discharged (Hwang, 2016). Also, although it is considered an effective road transport alternative for the future, not all households will own a car charging garage or can access the off-street parking facility in urban, suburban, or rural areas due to the extremely high costs associated with it.

In conclusion, it is with no doubt that the invention and adoption of electric cars gives a great promise for the future of road transport. As predicted in the modern day literature, the next 20 years will see over 90% of the cars on our roads using electric power since this electric vehicle technology has enabled the production of environmentally friendly cars. Besides, amid fears of the rising levels of nitrogen oxides and the rapid depletion of the limited fossil fuel resources, the world seeks to find an effective alternative to the already depleted fossil fuels, which is evidently found in electric cars. Thus, if countries, states, and localities continue to encourage the adoption of electric vehicles, then electric cars will be the definite future of our road transport.

References

Dell, R., Moseley, P. T., & Rand, D. A. (2014). Towards sustainable road transport. Academic Press.

Dunne, M. J. (2016, February 28). China Deploys Aggressive Mandates To Take Lead In Electric Vehicles. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldunne/2017/02/28/china-deploys-aggressive-mandates-to-stay-no-1-in-electric-vehicles/#32dafb126a82

Hwang, R. (2016, March 8). Future of Electric Vehicles Is Bright | NRDC. Retrieved from https://www.nrdc.org/experts/roland-hwang/future-electric-vehicles-bright

Kamath, R. (2015, November 25). Are electric vehicles really the future of road transport? - TU Delft OpenResearch.net. Retrieved from https://tudelft.openresearch.net/page/12678/are-electric-vehicles-really-the-future-of-road-transport

Ryan, L., & Turton, H. (2007). Sustainable automobile transport: Shaping climate change policy. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

Williams, L. (2016, July 19). The future of transport? Electric avenue | The Independent. Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/motoring/features/the-future-of-transport-electric-avenue-7138526.html