Electric Cars: The Future of Transportation

   

“Electric Cars are going to be very important for urban transportation” --- Carlos Ghosn

  An Electric Car can simply be defined as an automobile whose activities are controlled by electric motors and whose movement range is determined by the energy stored in rechargeable batteries. With every passing day, Electric Cars as well as every other Electric Vehicle are gaining more and more popularity. But what makes them so valuable? Who even brought up this idea? Let us carefully consider the concept of Electric cars. 

      Unlike what many people may think, Electric Cars aren’t actually new to the automobile industry. Infact, Electric Cars date back to as far as 1828 when a Hungarian Engineer known as Anyos Jedlik created the first prototype of an Electric Motor which was used to power a small car. Then about 6 years later, in 1834, a Blacksmith called Thomas Davenport developed a similar prototype which when used to power cars allowed them to travel short distances. Sometime later, a Dutch Chemist named Sibrandus Stratingh constructed an electric car powered by Primary Cells. Now, one thing to note is that while these electric cars were good for a start, a major problem they faced at the time was that they were run on Primary cells which weren’t rechargeable and so were therefore inefficient. Also, they were ineffective because they were needed in large quantities while offering very low speeds. As it turns out though, things were about to change for the better.

      The breakthrough came in 1859 when the Lead-acid battery, the world’s first rechargeable battery, was invented by a French Physicist called Gaston Plante. This major invention led to a rise in the sale of Electric Vehicles. Many countries began producing Electric Vehicles and in 1891, another milestone was reached when the U.S produced an electric-powered 6-passenger wagon that could travel  at 14MPH(23km/h). Infact, by the early 20^th century, almost a third of the cars in the U.S were electric-powered. Now, one major advantage Electric Vehicles in general had over other vehicles that ran on fossil fuels was that they didn’t give out noisy sounds during their operation.

Now, at this point, you’re probably like: “Ok, we get it, they were good. So why weren’t they common when I was born?”

        Well, the Electric Vehicles’ Market soon began facing major problems as a result of advancements in infrastructure like Internal Combustion Engines, Electric Starters e.t.c. Now, their major shortcoming was that they usually had only a speed of 15-20MPH and could travel for about 30-40 miles before the batteries ran down. Rather unfortunately, Petrol Cars then began using Electric Starters along with Mufflers making their noise reduce significantly and matching the major advantage Electric Cars had. Finally, Electric Cars met their death knell in 1910 when Henry Ford produced petrol cars in bulk making them much more cheaper in comparison to electric cars. Most people then began using Fossil-fuel Cars and Electric Cars gradually went extinct.

       Now, in our day, more than a century later, Electric Cars seem to have finally come to stay. As a result of the production of Lithium-ion batteries, Electric Cars seem to have risen from the dead. In brief words, the Li-ion batteries are a better option because they have higher energy in comparison to Lead-acid batteries and provide greater range for the cars while at the same time being less expensive to produce.

             Furthermore,Electric Cars are preferred due to the increasing concern for our environment and the inherent fear of running out of natural resources. This is so because the emissions made both during the production and even the operation of Fossil-fuel vehicles lead to an increase in the Carbon content in the atmosphere giving rise to side-effects such as Global Warming and Ozone-Layer Depletion. It is for this same reason that countries like Canada, Britain, China, Norway, Belgium and so on have announced plans to stop the sale of IC-Powered vehicles in order to achieve net-zero emissions in the nearest future.

             Just to explain briefly, in terms of construction, Electric Cars are powered by an Induction Motor rather than an IC-Engine used in other conventional cars. Employing the services of an Induction Motor which is much smaller in size has numerous advantages some of which are: easy and reliable speed control, greater speed efficiency, better traction control (for slippery surfaces) and so on.

              Taking everything into consideration, it can be said that Electric Cars won’t just benefit humans alone but might just help save our already-endangered planet.