Electric Vehicles are the Start to a Cleaner World
Graph created by Bloomsburg
We are running on limited time. “Earth could cross the global warming threshold as soon as 2027,” according to Shirley Cardenas. With transportation causing a big part of Co2 emissions, especially cars, we should go electric. According to Tom Randall from Bloomberg, by 2022 electric vehicles will cost the same as gas powered vehicles. They also stated that by 2040, 35% of all car sales will be electric vehicles. Last year the total number of electric vehicles in the US are 1.1 million registered. We are headed to the right path, but we need to change more, and little bit faster.
We need more electric vehicles. The first benefit about electric vehicles is that they don’t directly cause pollution. Since they are electric, they don’t cause pollution while using them. The second good trait of electric vehicles are that they don’t have to pay for expensive gas, especially with gas prices on the rise. According to Sterling Price in the Average Household Budget, drivers on average spend $3,000 dollars which is expected to rise. Compared to electric vehicles, the monthly expense can be from as little as $300 a year to $1200 a year according to Nick Kurczewski. We also will have depended less on gas from foreign countries. According to the US Government, about of 75% of US’s petroleum is imported. We would spend less money on importing oil and more on green energy.
Another positive about electric cars is that they will improve the air quality. Since 29% of greenhouse gases are from transportation, if we take it down even a to 10%, the air quality would improve and there would be less smog in big cities.
Photo taken by BBC
While there are many good things about electric vehicles, there are also a few bad things. First, electric cars on average can travel less distance than the average gas powered. According to Energysage, the average edition EV can travel about 60-120 miles per charge, while the luxury editions travel 300. The average gas-powered car can last about 300 miles on a full tank.
The second issue is that they take longer to refuel. The recharging stations take a long time and on some it takes 8 hours, or the fast ones can take 30 mins just to get 80% full. Another issue is that right now, electric cars are more expensive and after a lot of use the batteries need to be replaced.
Also, the more we rely on EV’s the more energy we need, which we will depend more on oil, coal, and nuclear power. According to The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, around 81% of our energy are from fossil fuels and if we switch to electric cars too fast, the energy industry wont be able to keep up, which could cause the percentage to go up.
Finally, if we continue on the path we are headed, we will not be able to reverse our doings of global warming. We should all try to by into saving our Earth, and first we should fight back with electric cars.