How Electric Cars Work & Their Benefits
Electric cars are quiet and emissions-free vehicles that run on rechargeable batteries, offering drivers many benefits over traditional vehicles with gasoline engines. Recent advances in technology (such as fuel cell production) have reduced manufacturing costs and extended distances between charges, giving consumers a wider choice when considering how to spend their transportation budgets.
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How Electric Cars Work
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Electric cars are powered by rechargeable batteries that plug into a main outlet when the car is not in use--overnight, for example. The power stored can be used for approximately 60 miles of driving, an advance over the 40 miles offered by earlier models. This increase in range is due to manufacturers switching from the older NiCad batteries to lithium ion batteries, which are lighter and more efficient.
Financial Benefits
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Electric cars offer drivers a wide range of financial savings. Drivers of electric cars have lower insurance premiums, pay smaller maintenance bills (as electric engines have fewer mechanical parts) and have lower fuel costs, especially if batteries are recharged overnight, using cheaper off-peak electricity.
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Environmental Benefits
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Electric cars have zero emissions, unlike the harmful emissions from gasoline-powered vehicles. While electric cars use energy generated from power stations, they still create less pollution because a power station's efficiency is far greater than that of a gasoline engine. Electric cars are between three and five times more efficient than gas engines. As more electricity is produced by renewable energy resources, such as wind farm and hydro-electric projects, the savings in terms of pollution will also rise, making the electric car a truly "green" transportation option.
The Support Network for Electric Cars
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With oil deposits shrinking and becoming increasingly difficult to obtain, countries all over the world are looking at alternative sources of fuel for transportation. To support these new vehicles, networks of "charging stations," where drivers can charge their vehicles are starting to appear. Charging stations currently take up to two hours to recharge a car and are located in areas where drivers would typically stop to shop or watch a movie while charging takes place. As of early 2010, however, only a few states have active charging stations.
The Future of Electric Cars
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As more people choose to buy electric cars and more automobile manufacturers produce electric cars, the number of charging stations will increase as well, making owning an electric car more practical and more convenient. Advances are also being made in the amount of time needed to charge an electric car. Quick chargers, which take minutes rather than hours to fill batteries, are already on the market. This greatly decreases the major disadvantage of electric cars over gasoline models--that is, the time spent recharging batteries.
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