Electric Car Transportation Of The Future?
The electric car…transportation of the future, or practice in futility? This article will discuss the practicality of the electric vehicle, its advantages as compared to the internal combustion engine, and its disadvantages as compared to the internal combustion engine.
First, let's discuss what an electric car is. An electric car, as known as an electric vehicle, is a vehicle that is powered by the chemical reactions that occur inside the very large rechargeable battery pack present in said vehicle. The electric vehicle uses the power from the battery pack to energize DC motors attached to the vehicle's wheels to get the vehicle in to motion.
The use of electricity to drive a vehicle seems to be a natural decision to make once the phenomenon of electricity is understood, but is the electric car as practical as it would initially seem. No fuel to worry about purchasing, quiet and smooth operation, what's not to love? Well, the range. A purely electric car's range is only about forty to seventy miles. After the battery is drained, the electric car must be plugged up to charge the vehicle's drive battery. Having to recharge the battery after every forty to seventy miles is an impracticality that most people will not put up with.
But why would the idea of an electric car even be entertained if the range is so bad. The electric car does have some advantages over the internal combustion engine. First, the electric car requires no fuel. That is right; once you purchase the vehicle, you plug it up, charge it up, and drive it off. The DC motors driven by the batteries can output a prodigious amount of torque. Because the phenomenon of a coupled charge is very efficient, the battery can supply a charge that can quickly and strongly turn the vehicle's drive wheels. And of course, the electric car has the obvious environmental benefits of no emissions. So if the electric car is so great, why doesn't every one have such a vehicle? As mentioned when discussing practicality, the range of the vehicle is dismal. Most people would not want to have to charge their electric car that often. Second, the additional weight of the rechargeable battery packs reduces the effect of the great amount of power produced at the drive wheels. Also, the environmental impact of the rechargeable battery packs has not been researched and cannot be know for sure. Speaking of environmental impact, while the use of fossil fuels in vehicles will be reduced by the use of the electric car, the overall environmental impact may not be as great. Power plants would be outputting additional emissions as they run to power your electric vehicle. The resulting affect is a sluggish, marginally environmentally safe car that is almost always plugged in. Who wouldn't be interested in owning one of those…that is why the electric vehicle never became very popular, but the hybrid-electric vehicle has hit it's stride and is thriving in a market place where the fully electric car was not, and is not, accepted.
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