Everything About Electric Vehicles 2021: Cars of Future

Science and technology have given us immense inventions to make our life comfortable. Means of transportation like cars, airplanes, boats, and many more have reduced the distance between two places drastically. But this has come at the cost of non-renewable resources like petroleum and diesel.

But owing to increasing awareness about the environment, scientists are looking at alternatives. Electrical vehicles appear as an optimum solution to tackle this problem. But not everyone is clear about electric cars. So, in this article, we will look at all the details of electric vehicles.

Electric Vehicles

Electric Vehicles refer to those vehicles that run on electric power. This electric power can come from batteries or solar cells. The most common electric vehicles are electric cars. An exciting feature of Electric vehicles is that they can be charged within 30 min and can last for 12 hours. But this might vary for different models.

Electric Vehicles: History

The invention of electric vehicles dates back to the nineteenth century. In 1827, the electric motor was invented by Anyos Jedlik. In 1835, professor Sibramdus came up with a small electric car. As the technology improved, an electric locomotive was constructed by Robert Davidson.

It was only in 1900 that mass production of electric vehicles began in America. But the demand for electric vehicles started reducing after the advent of cheap Ford cars. However, in recent years, electric vehicles have once again gained popularity.

Electric Vehicles: Why Popular?

Two major factors contributed towards the re-appearance of electric vehicles, i.e.:

• Environmental concerns about petrol and diesel-run vehicles
• The scarcity of non-renewable resources and rising oil prices

Types of Electric Vehicles:

Electric vehicles are available in different models and sizes. But there are mainly 2 kinds of electric vehicles:

• Battery Electric Vehicles (Fully Electric) Those electric vehicles which run entirely on batteries are called Battery Electric Vehicles. The benefit is that you can quickly charge them at your home.
• Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles Hybrid electric vehicles refer to those vehicles that run on both battery and petrol/diesel. These are designed to address the problem of inadequate charging stations to use these vehicles for long distances.
  But again they will have the same problems that are associated with petrol and diesel-run vehicles.

Benefits of Electric Vehicles:

• Low Running Costs The first benefit of electric vehicles for the buyer is that they have low running costs. We know that the price of petrol and diesel is ever rising. But electric vehicles don't need any petrol or diesel for their movement. Therefore they are budget-friendly.
  Also, electric vehicles can save your money not only on fuel but also on maintenance. Since electric vehicles have fewer moving parts than traditional vehicles, the cost of maintenance is also less.
• Environmentally Friendly The next benefit of Electric vehicles is that they are environment friendly. Since electric vehicles don't need any petrol or diesel for working, they can reduce carbon emission. In this way, we can contribute to environmental protection by switching to electric vehicles.
• Better Efficiency Electric vehicles are also considered more efficient than traditional vehicles. Since they run on batteries, they offer better efficiency. Lithium Batteries are considered the primary driver of these electric vehicles. Therefore they are considered energy efficient.
• Little Noise Electric vehicles create less noise than conventional vehicles. This is because they don't produce any sound of the exhaust, due to which they create little noise.
• Easy to Drive Electric vehicles are easy to drive because they don't have any manual setting. Unlike petrol run cars in which changing gears is tricky, electric vehicles don't have any gears or clutch. Therefore these cars are easy to drive.

Cons of Electric Vehicles:

• Thermal Problems with Batteries The first concern about Electric vehicles is the thermal problem of batteries. Batteries that are used for running electric vehicles can experience thermal runaway. This can cause fire or explosions.
  Therefore, this problem should be overcome for a better future for Electric vehicles.
• Unsuitable for a Long Journey Electric vehicles might not be suitable for long journeys. Since there are very few charging stations, long trips can be difficult with electric vehicles.
  For this problem, the charging time and duration need to be addressed & adequate charging stations should be installed.
• High Initial Costs Another problem with Electric vehicles is that their initial cost is high. Although their operating costs are indeed far less than the cost of conventional vehicles, the initial cost is an obstacle in their popularity. To overcome this problem, the government is trying to provide many subsidies.
• Mining Concern Another concern of environmentalists about electric vehicles is that they might lead to excessive mining. Since the batteries of these electric vehicles will be made of lead, nickel etc., the problem of environmental degradation exists due to over mining.

Electric Vehicle (EV): Future

The future of electric vehicles is projected to be very bright. The following facts and estimates confirm that electric vehicles will become a common thing in the coming future:

• IEA (International Energy Agency) has estimated that by 2025, the number of electric vehicles will rise by almost 70%.
• The Indian government has set a target to increase e-vehicle manufacturing by 25% by 2022.
• A transition to electric vehicles is estimated to save almost $60 Billion on oil imports for India.
• Indian Government's FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles) and National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) 2020 aim to shift India's automobile industry to electric vehicles by 2030.

Owing to these facts, it is estimated that the coming decade would be the decade of electric vehicles and will become cheap as petrol and diesel-run vehicles.

Electric vehicles are gaining popularity owing to increasing awareness of the environment. There are many benefits of using electric vehicles like better efficiency, easy to drive design etc.

But there are also some concerns about Electric vehicles that become an obstacle in their adoption. So the government must address these issues so that there can be faster adoption of electric vehicles.