Electric Cars, Renewable Energy and the Environment

Big economies like the US, Japan, China along with several European countries have expressed their plans of launching programs to promote electric vehicles. These countries plans to give out monetary incentives, more funds on battery and electric car research and funds to build and use charging stations. London and Paris have declared car-sharing systems. Their government and big companies have all along been purchasing large number of electric vehicles, transporting them in through enormous fleets. What exactly is an Electric Vehicle or EV? In principle, it is any form of vehicle that uses electricity as its source of power. Forms of EV that we see now are golf carts, forklifts, trolleys and even your child’s remote control car. These cars are using electricity stored in batteries to make them move. An example of a hybrid electric car available today in car dealerships is the Toyota Prius. How does an EV differ from a gas-fueled vehicle? Mainly, an electric car has between 16 to 30 batteries instead of an engine or gas tank. Car batteries that power electric cars are the same as those that start your car – lead acid. Lead acid batteries are very affordable and widely available. The only problem is that they are bulky, heavy, and don’t store a lot of energy so it only yields a limited range. With continued research on EV’s new type of batteries are used like the Nickel Metal Hydride and Lithium lon however, these are very expensive and tend to raise the costs of electric cars. Nonetheless, with continued research and development, car manufacturers hopefully will be able to develop more efficient car batteries in terms of electric storage capacity. Electric cars may be more expensive than the conventional cars but in the long run its cost will be offset by savings on gasoline. There is continued public interest on electric cars. For example, a fellow customer in Edmonton Toyota dealership told me that he is always asking about the availability of electric cars. He and his colleagues are planning to switch to this zero emission car. I think the public’s interest can be attributed to the following: Electric cars have zero emission and therefore create less pollution. Of course production of batteries creates emissions however, the main benefit of EV is that it displaces air pollution from urban to rural areas where there are less people. Electric cars are more quite than regular cars. They are more energy efficient. It has a 60-80% tank to wheel efficiency ratings outperforming regular cars four times. They show the biggest energy savings when driving at low speeds and ever changing driving styles which make it ideal in for city dwellers. Widely use of EV will considerably reduce greenhouse gases, an important factor on climate change. More than a fifth of greenhouse gas emission is attributed to transportation and the number is growing. EV’s will hopefully be one of the solutions in reducing the green house effect. Making use of renewable and greener energy sources or greener car further reduce carbon emissions. As much as car manufacturers, environment advocates, and government support EV’s there are some obstacles to be addressed such as costly battery technology, limited driving range, and need for a more electric charging amenities. Toyota automakers are the leaders in providing the public a taste of an electric car with the launching of the Toyota Prius. Available in Edmonton Toyota and Toyota dealers worldwide and the highest selling hybrids of all time.