In the wake of global warming, oil shortages and the rising costs of gasoline, electric cars are often touted as representing the latest trends in automotive technology in a transforming world. Many automobile manufacturers are beginning to take the electric car market seriously. But are electric cars viable for the average consumer in 2019? While consumers scratch their heads, leading manufacturers such as Ford, Volkswagen, Audi, Nissan and BMW are jumping into the fray and developing vehicles fuelled by batteries instead of gasoline.聽聽聽聽聽聽 聽聽聽
Founded by Martin Eberhard聽and Marc Tarpenning in 2003, Tesla has led the way in the electric car industry. Although Elon Musk is regarded as Tesla鈥檚 figurehead, Eberhard and Tarpenning were the ones who were motivated to form the company after General Motors ended their EV1 electric car program. The founders named their business after the inventor Nikola Tesla 鈥� a pioneer in electric technology.
Electric cars date much further back to the 19th century, when self-propelled vehicles were first 小蓝视频 developed. British engineer Walter Bersey built an electric bus which ran for 4,800聽kilometres in 1888. Later, Bersey devised a battery-powered mail van to deliver the post in London in 1894. Bersey, an innovative engineer, also created taxis and private cars, but there were several problems with electrical propulsion in these earlier vehicles as mentioned in The Car, published in 1980 and edited by Maurice A. Smith. 鈥淓lectricity proved unacceptable because in cars it had to be stored in large, heavy batteries that must be charged frequently and so greatly reduced the range of the vehicle,鈥� Smith wrote.聽
The electric vehicles of the 1800s were motorized by heavy batteries composed of lead and acid. The lack of range and the weight of the batteries in the first electric vehicles made them too impractical for longer distances. Also, recharging the batteries was costly. The batteries themselves had a short lifespan, lasting about 100 charges. Petroleum engines were lighter, more reliable and faster. Although Henry Ford tinkered with electric motors, his Model T was a gas-powered marvel and the first affordable, mass-produced car.聽聽聽
Gas-powered vehicles dominated the market for several years, although inventers were still attempting to fabricate electric cars with lighter, longer-lasting batteries. The Henney Kilowatt was a redesigned Renault Dauphine powered by batteries and could reach a respectable 60 miles per hour in 1959. But only 47 of these cars were sold, since gasoline-powered cars reigned in the 1960s.
Electric cars continued to be fashioned from the 1960s to 2000, but many of these models were tiny boxes shaped like Lego toys and most were never introduced to the market. But in 2019, because of government incentives and improved technology, there鈥檚 a host of electric vehicles available in Canada ranging from low-speed commuters to sports cars. From the Kia Soul Electric to the Jaguar I-Pace, there鈥檚 an electric car for every consumer.
Although the growth of the electric car industry is exciting, there鈥檚 still some issues to be worked over. Jamie Page Deaton from HowStuffWorks.com wrote about the challenges electric cars face as consumers decide to whether to reject or embrace the new battery-powered technology under the hood. One problem Deaton recognized are the higher costs of electric cars. Batteries in electric cars are required to hold massive amounts of charges. Consequently, electric cars contain costly materials, making them more expensive than their gasoline-powered counterparts. Also, people are still concerned about the range of electric vehicles. Electric cars are practical for shorter trips, as most can travel about 160 kilometres on a single charge. Yet, there鈥檚 few charging stations available on the road for longer journeys. According to Deaton, the lack of charging stations exemplifies a huge drawback. Charging vehicles could be done at home, but this should be done inside a garage. For people who live in shared housing, or if they park on the streets, charging electric vehicles would be impossible without charge stations in their neighbourhoods.聽 聽 聽聽
