Contemporary media is awash with news about global warming and how humanity will face extinction if immediate action is not taken. This alarming news is sadly the truth of the global warming monster, or what is interchangeably referred to as climate change. The sad part is that humans are solely responsible for this climate change phenomenon. Most notably, scientists have definitively discovered that increased emission of carbon dioxide gasses into the atmosphere is the single most significant contribution to global warming, at least in the 21st century. Despite all this, some environment-conscious entrepreneurs have started manufacturing electric automobiles in the last few decades, aiming to churn profits and reduce the global carbon footprint. As of 2022, some electric vehicle manufacturers are successful and claim to have produced environment-friendly machines of the future that do not pollute the environment in any way. In light of this development, while electric vehicles of today reduce overall carbon footprint significantly, there is no refuting that they still pollute the environment, directly or otherwise.
Electric cars are advantageous because they are cheaper to run and attract varying tax credits. For starters, electric automobiles, as the name suggests, are powered solely by electricity. Put another way, they lack traditional fuel tanks like their “internal combustion engine” counterparts. Therefore, individuals who purchase electric cars save on fuel expenditure. According to industry estimates, fuel costs make up more than 50% of vehicle expenses. It is then clear that having an electric vehicle saves the average driver a significant amount of money each month, which can be channeled elsewhere. Secondly, owning an electric vehicle is advantageous as one enjoys tax credits. For instance, new electric car owners in the United States want a federal tax credit of between $2,500 and $7,500 (Arora et al., 2021). Such attractive tax cuts reduce the upfront capital required to purchase new cars. The abovementioned advantages indicate that electric vehicles offer long-term benefits to car owners.
Environmental benefits are attained when individuals choose to purchase electric vehicles. As of 2022, it is a known fact that the fossil fuels used in making gasoline are indeed a resource that can be depleted. The sheer increase in industrialization means the rate at which fossil fuels are consumed is faster than previously anticipated. Even worse, the increased use of fossil fuels has been observed to cause significant carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, ultimately exacerbating climate change. Using electric vehicles will solve this problem since electricity is a renewable resource that does not harm the environment. To put this in more technical terms, as of 2019, “internal combustion cars” were found to emit a total of 29% of all greenhouse gases into the atmosphere (Omonov & Dehqonov, 2022). Increasing the number of electric vehicles will surely save the environment since the emission of poisonous gases will reduce substantially. Cumulatively, the increased number of electric cars will ensure that lesser unfavorable gases are emitted to the ozone layer, ultimately helping to resolve climate change.
Other advantages of electric vehicles are better performance and lesser maintenance requirements. As pertains maintenance, internal combustion vehicles require more frequent maintenance than their electric counterparts. Case in point, the former require oil changes frequently, usually after a couple of months. The fact that there are lesser moving parts in electric cars, under lack of an “internal combustion engine,” means that fewer repairs are needed in electric automobiles. Regarding performance, electric vehicles are better than their internal combustion counterparts. Electricity reliance makes these vehicles more responsive (Omonov & Dehqonov, 2022). In addition, electric cars ride more smoothly, and the noise emission is lesser than with their fuel-propulsion compatriots.
Advantages aside, electric cars are marred by many disadvantages, among them being that; they are more expensive to purchase and charging is a lengthy process. While there is no doubt that electric cars are cheap to maintain, the same cannot be said about their upfront cost. In some scenarios, electric vehicles are more expensive than up to $35,000 (Sotnyk, 2021). This increase in upfront cost is because most of these electric vehicle firms are start-ups with inefficient production lines. Many electric vehicle manufacturing start-ups even depend on pre-orders to sustain their operations. Ultimately, a premium must be charged to cover all costs. The second disadvantage is that electric automobiles require lengthy periods to recharge. The standard time for these vehicles to recharge usually is 4 to 20 hours, depending on the model. Such long hours can be a big problem, especially in emergencies when ambulances have to transport invalids quickly. Charging electric cars is further complicated because many countries do not have extensive charging networks, which puts pressure on drivers, especially during long trips. In comparison, internal combustion vehicles only take a few minutes to refuel. The added costs and irregular charging networks are undesirable factors why electric cars are disadvantageous.
Electric vehicles do not necessarily protect the environment, at least not all of the time. While proponents of electric mobility like to paint an essentially romantic picture of how environment-friendly these machines are, some aspects of these cars are anything but environment-conscious. Case in point, not all electricity used in charging these cars are not generated from renewable sources. Across the United States, for example, there are still coal and diesel-driven generators that power millions of households across all states. The same electricity is used in charging electric vehicles, effectively meaning that the power in those batteries is not as clean as the manufacturer purports. Secondly, the mass production of electric cars requires large amounts of rare metals. Most notably, metals like gold, cerium, lanthanum, and neodymium are mined in large quantities. Over the last few years, the extraction of these rare metals has increased due to increased demand. The problem is that the extraction processes utilized are not environmentally friendly, as in nations like the Congo and Indonesia (Bamana et al., 2021). As such, electric car manufacturers are not entirely truthful about their products’ impact on the environment.
Conclusion
While advantageous, electric cars also pose significant disadvantages to users and the environment. On the positive end, electric cars offer innumerable benefits to drivers, as they require lesser maintenance, have better performance, and attract competitive tax credits. Moreover, and most importantly, electric vehicles protect the environment since they do not emit poisonous gases—however, EVs present unique disadvantages to both the users and the environment at large. For starters, these vehicles require extended charging time, are comparatively pricier to purchase, and put unnecessary cognitive pressures on drivers’ minds, especially where setting networks are underdeveloped. Secondly, the production of electric cars is not entirely environmental-friendly, as they require rare earth metals. These disadvantages notwithstanding, electric cars are the future.
References
Arora, A., Niese, N., Dreyer, E., Waas, A., & Xie, A. (2021). Why Electric Cars Can’t Come Fast Enough. Boston Consulting Group: Boston, MA, USA.
Bamana, G., Miller, J. D., Young, S. L., & Dunn, J. B. (2021). Addressing the social life cycle inventory analysis data gap: Insights from a case study of cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. One Earth, 4(12), 1704–1714.
Omonov, F. A., & Dehqonov, Q. M. (2022). Electric Cars as the Cars of the Future. Eurasian Journal of Engineering and Technology, 4, 128–133.
Sotnyk, I. M. (2021). Electric car market: Problems and prospects of development [PhD Thesis]. Teadmus OÜ.
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