Electric Vehicle

Electric vehicles (EVs) are vehicles that are propelled by an electric motor, rather than a conventional internal combustion engine. Like with any creation, there are its benefits and its drawbacks.

Electric Vehicle and the Economy[edit]

Electric vehicles are great for vehicular diversity which creates competition. In a free market system, when competition is created the consumer wins. This is because gasoline car companies and electric car companies work harder and harder to convince you to buy their product. As a result, they have to bring the best performance to the table at lower and lower prices.

Range[edit]

Most EVs on the market in 2011 are pure electric vehicles, having only a rechargeable battery and electric motor on board. This limits the range of the vehicle to the maximum change able to be stored in the car's batteries (which decreases with continual recharging). The Chevrolet Volt, an American-built electric car, is, however, the first and currently only extended-range EV, meaning that it has a gasoline generator on board that produces electirical power to drive the car's motor when the batteries are depleted. This gives the Volt a 400-mile range on a single charge and tank of gas. The Volt only requires one of its power sources to operate at any one time (thus it can run entirely on electricity stored in batteries, entirely on gasoline, or both simultaneously), thus the Volt, as apposed to all other EVs in 2011, can be driven like a traditional gasoline-powered vehicle with many of the advantages of an electric motor as the power-plant of the vehicle (e.g. full torque from the first instant). Some manufactures of pure EVs have attacked the use of a gasoline generator on the Volt, touting their pure electric vehicles as the more environmentally conscious option, hoping to paint the Volt and future extended-range EVs as harmful to the environment and attracting more environmentalists to their products (see Nissan Leaf^[1]).

2013 Sales[edit]

As of the end of 2013, electric vehicles sales have risen to over 96,000 (168,000 since 2008), though this still represents less than one percent of all vehicle sales. The number of models has risen to sixteen with more in the planning stages.^[2]

References[edit]