Why Electric Cars Are The Future

The world is changing quickly, and what looked like a science-fiction fantasy is gradually becoming our current reality. It seems that progress spreads to all spheres of humanity’s life, but one of the most amazing breakthroughs has been achieved in energy recently. About two decades ago, it appeared there was no effective alternative to the conventional fossil fuels such as gasoline and oil, but it turned out that there is a better, cleaner, and more effective substitute to them: electricity. Although electric engines are not so widespread, more and more people consider changing their gasoline-fueled vehicles to electric cars. And this choice is more than reasonable.

The maintenance cost of electric cars is lower than the one of those fueled by conventional gasoline. Fuel prices heavily depend on the political and military situation in countries providing oil; even if we do not take it into consideration, one year of driving a gasoline car would cost you about $2,100 (given that you drive about 15,000 miles per year, spend one gallon of gas for each 25 miles traveled, and buy gasoline at $3.50 per gallon). At the same time, driving an electric car would cost you only $475 per year. Along with the fuel costs, conventional cars require regular technical inspections, transmission repairs, and so on (EVgo). By all means, electric cars are a much cheaper alternative for those who want to save money.

Safety is another reason why electric cars are more preferable. There were several incidents when Tesla Model S electric cars flared up. This motivated Tesla Motors to research the situation with car fires in general, and it turned out that there are about 150,000 car fires per year only in the United States. “Since the Model S went into production last year, there have been more than a quarter million gasoline car fires in the United States alone, resulting in over 400 deaths and approximately 1,200 serious injuries,” Tesla Motors management informs. “There are now substantially more than the 19,000 Model S vehicles on the road that were reported in our Q3 shareholder letter for an average of one fire per at least 6,333 cars, compared to the rate for gasoline vehicles of one fire per 1,350 cars” (The Long Tail Pipe). So, according to the statistics, electric cars are safer—at least in terms of flaring up.

Electric cars are also known to be more efficient in terms of converting energy: on average, electric cars use about 60% of power of the electrical energy to make the wheels spin, compared to 17%–21% of energy stored in gasoline converted to power at the wheels. This is important not just in terms of efficiency, but also environmental protection, because the more effective use of energy means less resources taken from the nature; besides, electric cars emit no greenhouse gases. Power plants that produce electricity may pollute the air, but only those working on fossil fuels; nuclear power plants, hydro, solar, and wind power plants produce no pollution at all. So, the more people choose to drive electric cars, the less damage will be dealt to the environment.

As it can be seen, electric cars are in many ways more preferable than conventional gasoline vehicles. The costs of fueling and maintaining an electric car are much lower compared to those of regular cars; electric cars are safer in terms of being prone to flaring up—according to the statistics, many more car fires occur with gasoline vehicles than with electric cars. And finally, electric cars are more environmentally-friendly, meaning that not only people, but our whole planet benefits from them. Thus, it is advisable that as many people as possible choose to change their vehicles to electric cars.

Works Cited

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