Electric cars have become a modern way of transportation. In fact, over 2,500 electric cars are used in Ann Arbor. But a common question that surrounds these vehicles is if they even have benefits? While electric cars produce less greenhouse gasses, electric cars are unreliable and are not ready for the market. They are more dangerous in car accidents than automobiles, with the batteries that are also not advanced enough. Additionally, charging is a widely-known issue with electric cars.
First of all, the car batteries aforementioned are unreliable and not advanced enough. Tesla batteries are actually a chain of tiny batteries. Each of those batteries can power an RC car. An RC car battery is roughly the size of a normal AA battery but some can be larger. The extreme amount of small lit
hium batteries pose a threat to the driver’s safety in car accidents. Lithium batteries are dangerous and can cause fires in many situations, not only in cars. According to Jake Sundstrom, who is an editor for CarMax, electric vehicles require much more time to fully charge. In fact, it can take up to ten times longer to charge an electric vehicle compared to an automobile. Sundstrom also states that electric car batteries
do not last as long, even though it takes longer time to charge. Battery replacement will also have to be more frequent.
Another downside to electric cars is the lack of charging stations than gas stations. This can make it harder to find a public charging station to refuel. If you do not have a charger at home, you will be disappo
inted at the scarce amount of charging stations provided at your disposal.
Furthermore, electric car batteries provoke more money problems. Sundstrom claims that most electric cars are luxury cars. Thus electric cars are more expensive on average. Since there are not many public charging stations, installing a home charger will also cost additional money. Nina Lakhani, who is a climate justice reporter, writes that car batteries are built with lithium. Lithium is a sparse material. Lakhani says that by 2050, lithium will be an extremely rare element. This will make the electric car batteries even more expensive, and in turn, will pile up on buyers’ paychecks.
Electric cars also cause more environmental problems than you think they do. Even though they are built to be eco-friendly, Nikolas Gvosdev who is a professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College, states that electric vehicles impact the environment when they are built. Along with the lithium batteries, electric car production harms the environment. These factors will slowly lead the earth to become a lifeless and barren land.
Electric cars are not suitable for the market yet and require more technological advancements. Electric car batteries are unreliable and pose charging difficulties, and do not help the environment as much as they are advertised to do. Therefore, if you do not want these problems and want to save the environment and our safety, then do not buy electric cars until they are more reliable and sustainable. Do it for the environment and for us, as a society.
