Imagine the scene, you’re in the back of your family’s car, going down the motorway. It’s a beautiful, sunny day. Suddenly you hear the earth-shattering noise of a loud engine and a bright green supercar flies by, filling your nose with the smell of petrol and instilling a sense of hope in your heart. But for kids very shortly, that kind of episode may never occur.
How would you feel? Would you feel glad? Or would you feel a sense of loss?
Last year, the UK government announced that from 2030, the sale of all new petrol cars will be banned. This initiative was originally planned to be from 2040, but the ban got pushed forward to 2035 and then 2030. This is a sizable step forward and established manufacturers such as Ford, Jaguar and Bentley have all confirmed that all their models will be fully electric by the end of the decade.
However, to understand more about the future of motoring, you have to understand more about the past of motoring. The horse was still the most common mode of transportation on the eve of the twentieth century. However, as people's incomes rose and available technologies advanced, some began to experiment with newer modes of transportation. At this point, gasoline, steam, and electricity were all available, with each competing for market dominance. At the time, steam technology was well established and widely understood and trusted by the general public. After all, it had proven its worth powering factories, mines, trains, and ships, so it seemed only natural to build smaller forms of transportation using steam engines. Unusually, this wasn’t the case, but instead, it was battery-powered vehicles that were growing in popularity and were considered to be the next big thing. However, there was one thing that ended the slow but sure blossoming of the electric car. A man named Henry Ford and his invention that revolutionized manufacturing forever. The production line. Ford’s production line allowed for the cheap, mass production of cars, and it allowed for his petrol Model T to be priced at around $650 as opposed to a competing electric car, which would have cost over $2000. The point is, electric cars have always been around but they’ve never really been in the limelight.
Fast forward to the 21st century, at a time when mankind stands uncertainly poised towards the future and the reign of the internal combustion engine is almost over. Rising quantities of greenhouse gases mean that the production and sale of emission-free electric vehicles are more crucial than ever.
So what does this mean for the average consumer who is looking to purchase a new vehicle? Well to answer that question, naturally one must look at both the relative merits and drawbacks of owning an electric vehicle. A point at issue is that contributing to a cleaner future is a trivial detail to many potential consumers, instead, they’re more interested in getting the best value for their hard-earned money. As a consequence, the UK government is offering a grant of up to £3500 towards the purchase of a relatively costly electric vehicle. An electric Mini, for example, starts at £28,000. Conversely, a similar petrol-powered mini starts at around £17,000. This is a difference of more than £10,000 for what is essentially the same car.
Additionally, countries such as the United Kingdom currently do not have the sufficient infrastructure to support the exponential charging needs of electric vehicle, which could possible leave lead to many inconveniences for multiple consumers that would deter them from purchasing an electric vehicle again. Being stranded or running out of charge mid-journey is never an ideal situation. The point being, we live in a very fast-paced society where instant gratification rules our lives. What happens when you want to go to McDonald's on a whim and your electric car is still charging? Currently, electric cars require a certain level of forethought that people just aren’t willing to give for something as trivial as this.
Furthermore, the people who are trying to convince citizens to purchase electric vehicles just do not understand the actual intricacies that owning an electric car entail. A prime example would be MP Ed Miliband who was recently featured on Good Morning Britain, after talking about how it is an absolute necessity for people to purchase electric vehicles, he is asked by the host whether he owns an electric car, to which he replied: “I haven’t yet. It’s a work in progress!”
Despite the drawbacks and challenges that these vehicles face, there are many merits to electric cars, such as the ability to charge from home and instant torque. However, the main merit, the only merit that matters is that the emissions produced in the lifetime of an electric vehicle are far less than those of an internal combustion engine. So overall, the relative merits and drawbacks of electric cars are of insignificance. Due, to the electric vehicle being in its relative infancy, it is unclear whether it can even be compared to the internal combustion engine car that has been refined over the last century. The one clear thing is this - the electric vehicle will succeed the petrol, and offer humanity a cleaner and brighter future.
