Electric Cars: A Comprehensive Report on Technology and Sustainability

This report provides an overview of electric vehicles (EVs), examining their advantages, disadvantages, and the factors influencing their adoption. It begins by highlighting the efficiency of EVs, which convert a significant portion of energy into movement, leading to reduced fuel consumption and lower emissions. The report then explores the benefits of EVs, including reduced emissions due to the use of rechargeable batteries, high performance with responsive motors, and minimal maintenance requirements. However, the report also acknowledges the drawbacks of EVs, such as limited driving range compared to gasoline-powered cars, the time required for recharging, the cost of battery packs, and the potential for accidents due to their silent operation. The report references several sources, including Philipsen et al. (2016), Matthews et al. (2017), and Valenzuela et al. (2017), to support its findings and provides a comprehensive analysis of the current state and future challenges of electric vehicles.

ELECTRIC CARS

 Electric vehicle is a new idea in
automotive industry
 Electric cars offer a significant way of
Saving money and contributing to a
sustainable and stable surrounding
(Philipsen et al., 2016)
 Examples of electric cars include:
 Nissan Leaf
 Tesla Model S
 Ford Focus Electric
Introduction

Advantages

 Energy efficient
 Energy efficiency-amount of energy changed
to real energy for powering a system
 Electric vehicles are more efficient as
compared to conventional cars (Philipsen et
al., 2016)
 59 to 62% of energy is converted to vehicle
movement by EV batteries
Advantages continued…

 Reduce emissions
 Includes reduction of fuel usage
 Attained as the EVs depend on
rechargeable batteries
 Rechargeable batteries mean
significantly lowered energy used on fuel
 All energy may be domestically sourced

 High performance & low maintenance
 The motors are quiet & smooth besides
requiring minimal maintenance
 Motors of EV react fast thus very responsive
with excellent torque
 Does not require lubrication of engines
 Does not require frequent visits to the
service station as with gasoline powered car

Drawbacks

 Travel short distance
 Have shorter range than
conventional cars
 Range of most models is between 60
and 120 miles for every charge
 Gasoline powered cars range
averagely 300 miles on full gas tank
Drawbacks continued…

 Require long time to refuel
 Full recharge of battery pack takes 8 hours
 Fast charging stations consume up to 30
minutes to attain 80 per cent charge
capacity
 Needs dedicated power stations for the long
recharge time (Matthews et al., 2017)

 May be expensive
 Battery pack used in the car is costly
 Battery requires replacement with time
 EVs are generally expensive as compared
with conventional cars (Valenzuela,
Montalvo and Barrera-Singaña, 2017)
 The overall cost is offset by savings of fuel
costs, state incentives & tax credits

 Silence as a drawback
 Electric cars are silent
 People like hearing noise behind
them
 EVs may easily cause accidents in
some instance

 Valenzuela, A., Montalvo, I. and Barrera-
Singaña, C., 2017, September. Electrical
vehicle: Facing future challenges in quito.
In 2017 IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid
Technologies Conference-Latin America
(ISGT Latin America) (pp. 1-6). IEEE
 Matthews, L., Lynes, J., Riemer, M., Del
Matto, T. and Cloet, N., 2017. Do we have
a car for you? Encouraging the uptake of
electric vehicles at point of sale. Energy
References