
Earth is a beautiful planet that, at times, seemed to be abused by the human race. Much of the population trashes the world when not even thinking about it. With the world aging and developing as rapid as it is, there is a push for environmentally friendly conversions of items that currently are harmful to the environment. Based on that statement, one of the conversions include the transition from gas and oil powered vehicles to electric powered vehicles. For the past 10 years, there has been an up rise of electric cars towards the general public worldwide. The transition of gas cars to electric cars could be a long term, economically smart decision; however, the flaws currently found in electric cars potentially could cost more than it is worth. 

Electric cars first began becoming popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s (The History of the Electric Car). However, at this point, it was not logical to be produced and purchased by an everyday person. It took almost 40 years for the electric car to have its break through. "Toyota introduces the first mass-produced hybrid, the Prius. In 2000, Toyota releases the Prius worldwide, and it becomes an instant success with celebrities, increasing its (and the electric vehicle's) profile" (The History of the Electric Car). This car changed the evolution of electric cars for good. Although this was a good adjustment for the wellbeing of the environment and car companies, there have been some proven flaws between then and even currently with the advancement of electric cars. 

The sole purpose of transforming from gas cars to electric cars is to have a long term, positive effect on the Earth's environment and personal gain in profit. Looking at the broad context of an electric car, it seems like a good idea to have this transition from gas powered cars. However, the scope of the complexity of the environmental effect is much greater than expected. "Overall, the research shows that electric cars are cleaner than those that rely on internal-combustion engines only if the power used to charge them is also clean" (Cleaner Than What?). This basically states that the power being used to charge them can vary the outcome of the emissions into the atmosphere. For countries, like France, who use nuclear stations to power more than half of their output of energy, which makes it more reliable and clean to use for the environment. On the other hand, countries like China, who use coal to produce roughly 80% of their electricity end up harming the environment than helping. It is also very energy demanding in order to produce the electric vehicle alone. 

A large factor in CO2 emission levels come from the production of the electric care itself. The biggest factor of making the car simply is due to the battery and the materials used to make it. When producing the battery, materials such as lithium, copper and refined silicon are used. These minerals take large amounts of energy to process. Like most cars, the battery is not expected to last as long as the vehicle will. With this being said, "Once the emissions from producing the second battery are added in, the total CO2 from producing an electric car rises" (Jakuba). After installing the new battery, there becomes no use for the older one. In order to properly dispose of a battery, it takes factory powered machines to dismantle and extinguish the materials found in the battery. "Disposal also doubles the emissions because of the energy consumed in recovering and recycling metals in the battery" (Jakuba). With this in consideration, it takes more energy than expected to produce and maintain the electric car. 

Alongside the quest to become an ecofriendly society, there are other factors that influence the transition from gas powered cars to electric powered cars. Gas prices have fluctuated heavily in the past 10-15 years. Many people this day in age have issues with being able to consistently afford gasoline. However, recently there has been the cheapest gas seen in these 10-15 years. When gas prices are lower, people do not feel threatened to have to purchase and electric powered car. Also with lower gas prices, the roads get driven on more. This causes more CO2 to be emitted. The Federal Highway Transportation Department has reported that due to the lower gas prices and more driven miles, the roads are beginning and continuing to become corroded. After using an electric car for five years, it has been researched and tested that the consumer will save at most about $10,000. This makes them want to purchase an electric car and make oil changes and gas station trips a thing of the past. 

A large attention grabber for the electric car has been the convenience of having a charging port located at home. While this seems like a good solution to not have to get gas, one thing to take into consideration is the usage of at home electricity. Some of the electric vehicles available today take more energy to charge than others. With having some that require a large amount of energy to properly function, the apparent money saving vehicle could do some damage to the monthly electric bill for the property. From personal experience, Eric Rosenberg states, "Charging my dad's Nissan Leaf from 0% to 100% takes all night on a standard outlet. With a home charging station, which can cost thousands to buy and install, you can charge in seven hours. New charger technology allows you to reach 80% in 30 minutes, but those chargers are expensive and can be hard to come by." Having this issue could very well increase the monthly electric bill and elongate the time of reaching balanced value in this investment. Without looking at the charging dilemma, another money issue comes up that electric cars are typically priced significantly higher than that of a combustion engine. 

Buying a new electric car could be difficult for lower class and even a percentage of the middle class. In Eric Rosenberg's article from Investopedia.com, "The high end Tesla Model S, with a 240-270 mile range, costs $75,000 for the starter model after incentives and including gasoline savings, when compared to your current car. The highest end model runs $105,000." Although the maintenance would be less demanding, it still would take too long for the investment to balance out. With this in perspective, it would be ideal to wait for the advancement of the car.

Major car companies are researching, testing and producing all electric cars that will be a realistic achievement for the everyday man to purchase. As the technology improves in the cars, it will then lower the price. Affordability is a key component when attempting to sell a car this is not looked upon as normal. There are several other factors that the consumer views before investing their money.

Besides the price value of the product, safety is viewed as one of the most important keys when advertising a car. The majority of the cars found on the road today are powered by combustion engines. During an accident, these engines are prone to explode using the sparks from the impact and the gas contained in the gas tank. This has found to be a dangerous feature in gas powered cars. On the other hand, electric cars carry no gas tank. This reduces the possibility for a deadly explosion to occur during an accident. However, they create their own way of having unreliable dangers. "Almost all electric cars currently on their way to the marketplace use large arrays of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries. And -- stop me if this sounds familiar -- Li-ion batteries have a tendency to catch fire and occasionally explode" (Lampton). In the Tesla Roadster, the battery found under the hood has a large combination of 7,000 individual lithium-ion batteries. This, as unfortunately been proven through multiple incidences, becomes a large threat to the advancement of this vehicle. However, not all electric cars use this system of power. There could potentially be a solution to solve not only this problem, but the whole engine safety issue. Most electric cars from different car companies are not internally made identically. With that being said, the combination of the safer components in these engines could solve this problem. Volvo, being known as one of the safest car brands to date, has already begun to change the way they build their electric cars. "Their new C30 DRIVe Electric locates the battery pack as far as possible from the car's crumple zones to keep it safe in a collision" (Lampton). 

Another main issue found in the electric car is the charging stations and ability to maintain the charge. "For example, the Nissan Leaf can only go 84 miles on a full charge, even less with the air conditioning or heat turned on" (Rosenberg). Being restricted to only 84 miles could become an issue when running low on charge. With a gas powered car, you can go the 300-500 miles on a tank. In the situation where a driver is low on fuel, a gas station can conveniently be found for a quick fill up. With electric cars, it takes a good bit longer in order to fully charge the battery. Not even looking at the time it takes to charge, currently, there are minimal amount of charge stations found around the general public. Although there are an improvement of installing charging stations in places like parking garages, large business and major universities, there are still not enough for a large amount of people to obtain electric cars. This is just another example for the statement that now is not the time to purchase an electric vehicle. 

Electric cars have been found to be very useful for local town driving. They have been used for running errands and driving short distances. This becomes an issue when longer destinations come into play. As mentioned previously, the general electric car ranges from 50-100 miles on a full charge. Even though millage plays a large role in longer distance drives, the comfort of the car is a key factor. Some of the electric cars available today come with only two seats. This makes it difficult for more than two people to travel along. However, there is already a trend to making five passenger electric cars. This makes it more convenient for those of smaller families. There is still limited space to storage luggage. Families with more than four/five plus members would potentially need a larger vehicle. A Chevy Suburban is an ideal car with families of six or seven members. There is currently not a large enough electric vehicle to obtain these standards.  

The future plays a large role in looking at the advancement of the electric car. With such a large push for everyone to use an electric car instead of a gas car, there are still a lot of improvements needed for combustion engines to be extinguished. One of these improvements include horsepower. This day in age calls for larger vehicles to be able to tow and pull trailers and be able to go on multiple terrains. This is only logically possible with motors that can put out large amounts of horsepower. This traditionally is found in gas powered engines. However, electric car companies have found ways to advertise the advantages of the cars horsepower. "The peak power of an EV is always at zero RPMs, which on the Tesla Roadster is 288 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque -- all of it as soon as you hit the throttle" (George). The main advantage found in electric cars on this situation is that all of the horsepower is released at once when the throttle is pressed. For a gas powered car, the rotations per minute (RPM) of the pistons have to be significantly higher in order for horsepower to have full potential. 

Having all population transition into an electric car does more than directly seen. Tamara Warren refers to Toyota in her article stating, "Toyota has said it will virtually eliminate gasoline by 2050, using a combination of hydrogen, EVs, and hybrid vehicles." Although this sounds like a positive advancement, there is more to look at. Having only all electric cars on the road could result in negative consequences. A large portion of gas station attendants rely on their job to feed their family and live a sustainable lifestyle. Without having cars going to gas stations, this could put numerous gas related companies out of business. This would result in thousands of loss jobs.   

One of the brighter things found in the advancement of electric cars are the safety features it brings to the car industry. A quality safety feature found in electric cars is that in the event of a wreck, the electric supply will be imminently cut from the battery.  This potentially could prevent the driver and any passengers to be further injured. On the other hand, electric cars tend to have major safety flaws that keep them from exceeding safety standards. When making an electric car, one of the biggest viewpoints is efficiency. The materials used to make this car are intended to be lighter and smaller. The overall car, after produced, tends to be smaller than most gas based vehicles. With this being said, they are more likely to be totaled in an accident. Even with airbags, this could still be dangerous to the driver and passenger. However, there also is an advantage to having a smaller car. With having the vehicle smaller and lower to the ground, it makes the handling much easier and tighter when driving. With it being lighter, this decreases the stopping time significantly. 

All of this evidence plays into one question which is, "Is it suitable to purchase an electric car right now?" I have determined that the electric car industry is advancing rapidly. For the average middle class worker, I would say to wait. Statistics are showing that major car companies are improving their product to make them safer, more reliable and cheaper to the general public. However, if you are not going to contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions by purchasing an electric car, there is something that we can do on a smaller level. For those who live in large cities, walking or riding a bike is a great way to minimize having to create traffic and more CO2 emissions. For those who live in a small city, carpool as much as possible. Riding with someone instead of driving yourself can automatically reduce emissions by half. Having a clean environment is very important for the future of this planet. As mentioned before, the transition of gas cars to electric cars could be a long term, economically smart decision; however, the flaws currently found in electric cars potentially could cost more than it is worth. On an individual level, it is not worth going into debt for converting to an electric car to save a small part of the environment. 

