There are three basic categories for electric cars: Production electric cars (factory-made and ready to drive); conversions and kit electric cars (for the do-it-yourselfer), and neighborhood electric cars (good only for short trips). In order to determine which type is right for you, consider how you plan to use it, whether or not you’re willing and able to sacrifice some ‘sweat equity’ to save money, and whether some other alternative fuel vehicle might be a better choice for you.
While electric cars have no tailpipes and therefore no vehicle emissions, they may still contribute to pollution if you buy electricity from a power plant that burns a lot of coal or other fossil fuels. Most electric vehicles are recharged by plugging into your home power supply. If carbon sequestration eventually becomes a reality, this will be less of a factor. And of course, if and when more solar and wind power generators come online, the grid will get cleaner.
In the average EV, you can travel about 25 miles on 5 kilowatt-hours of electric power. Based on today’s average utility prices, that works out to approximately 1.5 cents per mile! If your gasoline-powered car gets 25 miles per gallon at $3 per gallon, that works out to 12 cents per mile. That means that electric cars cost about 1/8 as much as gasoline-powered cars to operate! Many owners of electric vehicles (EVs) use solar panels to recharge their vehicles. In such a case they are literally driving for free (once the solar panels are paid for) because their energy is coming directly from the sun.
How about the range on EVs? The average commercially-produced EV has a range of about 50-100 miles before needing to be recharged. The majority of Americans drive less than 50 miles per day. For those of us who don’t drive that much, an electric car may be a clean, affordable alternative. If you drive more than 100 miles per day, you may want to consider a hybrid or other alternative fuel vehicle rather than an EV.
What about all those batteries? Are they a problem? Not really. The batteries used in EVs are totally recyclable. In fact, some municipalities have mandatory recycling laws for batteries from EVs. Even before being recycled, the batteries from EVs can be used as secondary storage for home solar or wind –powered stations. Even if your area doesn’t require the recycling of batteries, you can easily find a company that will recycle them on a volunteer basis.
Is an electric vehicle the right choice for you? You can learn more at: http://evworld.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment