Final Assignment - Develop an Essay

Electric Vehicle

Induction Module (USW-IND-101)

One of the main topics that cause panic for the whole world lately is the high usage of
transportation energy which mainly comes from oil and gasoline, while oil resources are limited and
concentrated in some parts of the world in the addition of cars carbon emission which is harmful to the
environment and this was the beginning of thinking about a replacement resource to avoid these issues
specially from the environment specialists and economy experts which was the idea of using electric

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 vehicles .The start of thinking for the electric cars was actually before gasoline one’s although we just got
interested in it in the last few years. But first we have to consider what the advantages are and
disadvantages of using this kind of vehicles to be able to answer some questions like ‘Is there any positive
impact for using these types of cars on the environment?’, ‘Is there any added value from using electric
vehicles as economic wise?’

First of all let us check the main reason for start thinking about the idea of electric vehicles, about
almost 40 years ago it was the beginning of gasoline products high cost and shortage at the same time,
since then it was the starting of a suitable replacement for the normal fuel resources and here came the idea
of developing the usage of electric energy in vehicles. Some of the researches results that one of the biggest
comparison between the gasoline vehicles and the electric ones is the local pollution damages results from
there usage without ignoring that this is differs according to the location , five main components causes the
global and local pollution which are CO2, SO2, NOx, PM2.5, and VOCs . Regarding the gasoline cars it is
possible to calculate the emissions resulted per miles, for CO2 & So2 it could be calculated proportionally
with the gasoline usage and difference through other components. On the other hand electric vehicles
differs in using more electricity per miles depending upon some factors like the intensity of carbon and it’s
cleanness level during the electricity mix process and depending also on the weather either it is cold or hot,
although both vehicles cases pollution damage but electric vehicles are still in the accepted levels for
pollution emissions.
So let’s first define what the electric car is? It is the car that runs depending on electric energy and it is
divided into three categories. First, is the hybrid vehicle which is a vehicle the one that has an electric
system and battery and runs with normal fuel? Second one is the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle and this
type can use energy either from battery or normal fuel. Last one is the ‘all-electric ‘type and this type
generate its energy for driving from its battery and it must be recharged through plug-in.
In order to take the right decision either to get an electric vehicle or not we must first study all advantages
and disadvantages, so let’s start with the advantages.
First point which considered one of the most advantages is ‘ no need for gas’ as these type of cars are
depending on the charge of electricity to be driven, so ‘no need for fuel’ which is the second advantage
because of the oil product high cost and continuously overprice. Third one related to the environment as
electric vehicles’ are considered as environment friend as it depends on electric power so no emissions or
toxic gases. Another advantage related to environment save is that these cares ‘reduce noise pollution’ as
they are much quieter. And from the point of view of economy; these cars are considered ‘cost effective’
even though at the beginning of their introduction they were too much expensive related to gas cars. So you
can consider that by time these cars will dominant the car market. Also these cars are ‘low maintenance’ so
you won’t spend a fortune on car services compared to gas cars.
Regarding the disadvantages, the limitation is one of the most important issues in the beginning of using
these vehicles, and limitation here means the range or the distance the vehicle could go before it needs to
be recharged so it will be not suitable for long distance trips, although now it is getting improved and will
be more in the future. On the other hand the time it needs to be recharged is considered as disadvantages as
it takes a way more time than normal fuel. Third one is concentrated in some courtiers and not general
issue which is the lack of power energy in some regions over the world as Atmospheric Environment
(2015) states in their research that “China and the U.S. are the world's two largest electricity producers and
the two countries together accounted for approximately 40% of the global electricity generation during the
past 30 years”. so let us check briefly the history of the electric vehicle as it was first invented in the
United States around 1890 by ‘William Morrison’ with the ability of 14 miles/hour top speed, later on now
a days’ Tesla Motors ’ and ‘Nissan’ are one of the biggest electric vehicles manufactures.

Well as a conclusion from all of this and all ups and downs that stands in front of the electric

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 vehicles industry to be spread out all over the world, now a day’s customers have a lot more options than
before regarding the vehicles models, shape and size, also the recharging station points are growing while
the normal gasoline price is getting higher. It is difficult to know the future of the electric cars but still all
the signs refer to a better solution from environment and economic wise.

References:

EECA Business (2015) ‘Research confirms environmental benefits of electric vehicles’, [Online]. Available at:
https://www.eeca.govt.nz/news-and-events/media-releases/research-confirms-environmental-benefits-of-
electric-vehicles/

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 Holland, P.S., Mansur, T.E., Muller, Z.N. and Yates, J.A. (2016) ‘Are There Environmental Benefits from
Driving Electric Vehicles? The Importance of Local Factors’, Dartmouth College. [Online]. Available at:
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~mansur/papers/Holland_Mansur_Muller_Yates_ElecCarSubsidy.pdf

Huo H. , Cai H. , Zhang Q. , Liu F. , He K. (2015) ‘Life-cycle assessment of greenhouse gas and air
emissions of electric vehicles: A comparison between China and the U.S.’ , Atmospheric Environment ,
108 , pp. 107-116. [Online]. Available at:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1352231015002022

Nunes, P. and Brito, M.C. (2017) ‘Displacing natural gas with electric vehicles for grid stabilization’,
Energy, 141, pp. 87-96. [Online]. Available at:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544217315852

Ogura K., Kolhe M. L., (2017) , Battery technologies for electric vehicles’ . Electric Vehicles: Prospects
and Challenges, pp. 139–167 [Online]. Available at:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128030219000045

Singapore Management University (2015) Chian L.K ‘Electric Vehicles with a Battery Switching Station:
Adoption and Environmental Impact’ , [Online]. Available at:
http://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/4603/

U.S. Department of Energy (2014), ‘The History of the Electric Car’ [Online]. Available at:
https://energy.gov/articles/history-electric-car

Vliet O.V. , Brouwer A.S. , Kuramochi T., Broek M.V.D, Faaij A. (2011) ‘Energy use, cost and CO2
emissions of electric cars’ Journal of Power Sources , 196 , pp. 2298–2310. [Online]. Available at:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S037877531001726X

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