Electric Cars: What, Why and Why Not

Read Time: 3 minutes

We are all familiar with the term ‘Electric Vehicles’ since they have been a hot topic for discussion in the Automobile sector. Speculations about their pros and cons and how would they affect the market are common especially when companies like Tesla, Jaguar and BMW among others have already launched their products in a number of countries.

So here we are with a write-up dedicated to Electric Vehicles, Cars specifically, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of using one. Let’s get started with the basics first –

WHAT?

Electric vehicles including cars are the ones that make use of electric motors and work with the help of rechargeable batteries as opposed to petrol or diesel. Though they might also be equipped with other energy sources like a solar panel or gasoline generator, most often electric cars are simply ‘battery-run’.

They have a quite a long history too with the earliest practical electrical cars dating back to the 1880s. They were popular in the 20th century too but only in the past ten years or so, they have started gaining momentum again after being suppressed by the cheaper options of gasoline led vehicles for a long time.
This development is the result of increasing environmental concerns plus the advancement in technological aspect of the electric vehicles. Introduction of advanced batteries played a huge role too and provided another reason for electric cars to make a comeback.

Now in addition of low emissions and improved air quality, electric cars became somewhat convenient too with better batteries and of course, all the support and encouragement provided by the local governments. But it is far from the end and there are still a number of aspects to consider when it comes to Electric cars and vehicles in general.

WHY?

And this brings us to the advantages of using electric cars –
• Environment friendly as they don’t use exhaustible resources and also the rate of harmful emissions is next to zero, resulting in better air quality.
• They are not only quitter as compared to normal vehicles but are smoother to drive /maneuver too.
• Electric cars can be quite low maintenance too.

WHY NOT?

But every coin has two sides and if there are pros, there has to be some cons too right? Disadvantages of electric cars –

• Despite their high-grade performance, they can’t cover too much distance before needing a recharge.
• The batteries too take quite some time to recharge and their recharge stops aren’t that widespread either, so careful planning is needed if you want to cover some distance in your electric car.
• Also, they are more expensive, which is a given but the battery packs may need to be replaced too and they don’t come cheap either.