Since the inception of Tesla and several other electrical vehicle companies, have prompted the introduction of electrical vehicle(EV’s) and they’re here to stay. Electric vehicles have seen a burst in sales and production with EV and fuel cell vehicle models available globally being increased by 37% since 2019. Additionally EV’s have represented 4.1% of total car sales in 2020 with electric car sales rising to 3 million. For a long time Tesla has been holding the title of “World’s largest Electrical vehicle maker” but in recent times car manufacturers such as Audi, BMW, MG motors, Tata Motors and Nissan have joined the party with hopes to shift the transport industry into an eco-friendly one.
This proves that the future for cars is electric with so many competitors in the field ready to ramp up their productions, however the hurdles start with actually trying to sell these vehicles. Though they may have several advantages such as no carbon emissions, low electricity prices and reduced noise-pollution, they come with several other disadvantages that may even outweigh the advantages.
Firstly, the most difficult obstacle to overcome is the charging and range dilemma. For example, many electric car owners seem to complain about range anxiety, this means that they fear running out of charge without any charging stations nearby hence creating precarious situations. Such situations usually occur in long road trips where people drive a long stretch without any stops. In such cases it could be extremely difficult to find charging stations when running low on charge leading to your car running out of energy in the middle of a highway, which is certainly something no one enjoys. Furthermore, the range of your electric car could drastically change depending on weather and driving conditions. For instance, on a normal sunny day an EV might be able to cover 350-400km whereas on a rainy or snowy day it may only be able to cover 150-250 km with 100% charge. Additionally, once you actually arrive at your charging station, it can take up to half a day to charge your car from 0-100% if you’re charging at a slow charger such as a Level 2 EV charging point. However tesla has solved this problem by using “tesla superchargers” that can charge your tesla within 30 minutes which is something that’s truly phenomenal. Moreover, tesla has strategically placed their superchargers in long empty highways with their superchargers being spread out allowing them to cover a large radius while also providing frequent charging stations. Take a look at this picture of the tesla supercharger network:
They have managed to cover most of the united states by placing clusters of superchargers at crowded cities to reduce waiting time and crowds at superchargers in populated places while also providing ample of superchargers at long highways.
Secondly, all though EV’s are green, eco-friendly and produce zero carbon emissions, they still use energy; this energy has to be created in some why or the other and most of the time it’s created through factories where coal and other fossil fuels are burned to provide energy. Hence it still contributes to releasing carbon emissions. A solution to this is to just create energy through renewable energy sources such as solar or wind energy.
Lastly, I would like to end of with my personal experience of riding in an EV in the front seat. The inside of the EV’s are just like any other car with nothing to extraordinary, however the backseats don’t have the hump in the middle anymore as there’s probably no need for it and this makes the middle seat so much more comfortable as you don’t have to cramp your legs on top of that hump. Another thing I noticed is that the car is super silent. There’s almost no noise coming from the car as it is powered with a motor instead of an combustion engine. This was actually quite an issue for pedestrians since sometimes they might not notice the car coming towards them leading to accidents. To fix this, several car makers had added artificial noises of the engine revving just to inform pedestrians of an incoming car and to make the driver aware of the speed he’s driving at as once the speed increases, the artificial noise produced also increases. To end off, electric cars also have super acceleration, the car I sat in was able to do 0-40 km/h in under 2 seconds. Once the car started moving, it accelerated at such a speed that my head was instantly pushed back by the car’s forward momentum. It was awe-shocking to see the car accelerate with such a magnitude. After my experience with EV’s I am ecstatic for the increase in EV’s on the road as they seem so interesting and cool and it’s definitely something to watch out for in the future if you’re a car lover.