Is the future of the car industry electric?

Tristan Perry

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Even though electric cars seem to be a new trend with tesla and BMW’s newest cars being electric and tesla only being electric. 

The first electric cars predate combustion engines coming out in 1832 long before henry ford would make the model t. But that was the end of electric cars for a while for several reasons. 

For one they were obnoxious to recharge and couldn’t go far at all only around 20 miles. Regardless of that, they were the most popular kind of cars in 1910 as they were twice as common as gas-powered cars. 

And when the model t came out with gas and was ¼ the price of electric cars the world turned to gas-powered cars and by 1935 the electric car was commercially obliterated. 

Read here for more information: https://www.caranddriver.com/features/g15378765/worth-the-watt-a-brief-history-of-the-electric-car-1830-to-present/ (Links to an external site.) 

this is from Sebastian Mackeson the CEO of BMW “electric cars predate gas-powered cars but only now electric is speeding up”. 

But they were still useful for some things like in space the apollo lunar roaming vehicle as electricity was the obvious choice. It was only an individual use vehicle with only 57 miles, but the astronauts didn’t even need half of that.  

And in 1972 BMW made an electric car to lead marathon runners in their race and made an electric version of its 2 series cars. 

It ran on 12 large car batteries but at full charge only went 37 miles, but it showed the benefits of electric vehicles. Electric vehicles can run quietly with no emissions, but it also illustrated their limitations.  

Because with the batterie limitation at the time electric cars were expensive with little range not practical for everyday use. So why would electric cars be the future if they can’t go that far and take forever to recharge? 

Well, companies have made a lot of advancements with batteries since 1972 as 50 years is a long time to improve a product.  

Take BMW for instance they have around 20 fully electric vehicles they’re selling right now and are heavily experimenting with other types of electric cars. 

All of this is possible by the advancements in batteries over the last 50 years with the biggest leap being lithium-ion batteries that have twice the charge for half the weight of normal batteries. 

Because of the wide use of lithium batteries, the cost has gone down because of an increase in manufacturing and optimization in the supply chain. 

Hear this from Elon Musk the leader in electric cars “technology will only improve with time and when more innovative people exist technology will surpass what anybody thought was possible”. 

Even though the price has gone down the storage has gone up in both per unit mass and per unit volume all while the price has plummeted. 

This is unlike combustion engines where decades of tweaking every detail there are extraordinarily trivial things to perfect it for improvement. 

But even though the battery life is still noticeably short people don’t travel as much as they think because batteries today are great for everything but road trips. 

for more information the batteries check here: https://www.dw.com/en/the-true-cost-of-electric-cars/av-46457917 (Links to an external site.)

In the USA 99% of every trip is under 100 miles and with almost all electric options being above that 99% of the time an electric car is better. 

And electric cars are better in several different areas the only issue is the range and recharge times that will improve over time. Here are 10 reasons why electric cars are objectively better as transport vehicles than gas-powered cars. 

For one there’s more torque from an electric car than a normal car and with the Tesla roadster being able to reach 60 mph from a dead stop in 1.1 seconds this will only improve. 

And thanks to the batteries under the floor electric cars have a low center of mass so there easier to control. Since you can use motors independently and each tire has its motor electric cars having precise control over each wheel which gives better traction. 

Electric cars are also a lot quieter with some electric cars needing to put speakers in the car to make a noise so it’s street legal. 

Electric cars are also cheaper to run and with gas prices at an all-time high right now electric cars are a lot cheaper with a full tesla charge being around $5 and a full gas fill-up being around $40. 

Electric cars are also more efficient than gas cars with both use and regeneration of energy because breaking recharges the car. After all, the wheel can recharge the motors the same way a dam generates electricity. 

If you have an electric car, you will never have to stop at a gas station because you can charge it right from your garage. 

There’s also less maintenance with an electric car there are fewer moving parts no oil changes and the breaks break down less because of regenerative braking. 

And depending on the source of electricity there are no co2 emissions if you get your power from solar panels, wind turbines, or dams you won’t be making a carbon footprint with your car anymore. 

And as cars essentially become computers on wheels electric vehicles are leading the way in self-driving cars which would prevent accidents and death on the road. 

Now electric cars are not even close to mainstream yet with only 2.2% of cars on the road being electric but that’s why it is the future. 

“Electric cars are going to be very important for urban transportation,” said Carlos Ghosn the CEO and Chairman of Michelin North America, Renault, Avtomat, Nissan, and Mitsubishi motors. 

With all the advancements the biggest issue is the charging time with electric cars taking around 30 minutes for each charge it is a massive issue that might already have an answer. 

By switching batteries at a gas station, you could hop out rent a battery put your dead one on a charger, and carry on, this tech is still in the preliminary stages so don’t get too excited. 

Electric car companies are experimenting, and many believe in the next 10 years over 50% of cars on the road will be electric. And that is why electric cars are the future of cars.