History of Electric cars and Why they are the future cars.

BY  AFZAL YOUSAF

"In order to have clean air in cities, you have to go electric." and We will not stop until every car on the road is electric"  Said by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

So what are the factors that making Electric vehicles as the future vehicles???

Lets Have a brief look at the history of electric cars.

Electric cars are actually nothing new to humankind.First pure electric cars were made on 1832, well before Gasoline powered car. It was developed by Robert Anderson.But electric cars came on practical on late 1870s. In fact the first car to go faster than 100kmph is an electric one at 1899 called"JAMAIS CONTENTE" meaning "never satisfied".

world's first known electric car made by Thomas parker in 1884.  

By 1910, they were common on american streets,as 38% of the streets were occupied by electric cars, compared to 40% and 22% occupation by steam and gas powered vehicles respectively.

But then came Ford model T,significantly cheaper than electric cars, then gas stations popped up in the country and it can be easily refuelled, can travel long distances. So gasoline vehicles gained popularity and eventually electric vehicle faded away from commercial vehicle market.Electric cars were only used in some experiments like Moon invasion project Apollo rover 15 , some events like 1972 Munich Olympics etc.

In India, the case is different. Only gasoline vehicle came into market from earlier time itself. First indigenous electric car made in India is Mahindra e2o. Drawbacks faced by these and other electric cars in India is due to High cost, short range and impractical design.All these drawbacks is due to the high cost and less specific energy storage of the batteries used in this vehicles.Poor battery technology is one of the main reason for the under development of electric vehicle in the global market.

Why Electric vehicle is the future.....

Every expert analyst says that electric vehicle is the future...   "Electric cars will cause the next oil crisis". Even when the oil  price is dropping globally, electric vehicle is gaining its popularity and sales of electric vehicle has grown 60% globally according to Bloomberg new energy finance article.All this is due to the drastic change occurred in the EV Technology.

1#.  Advancement in Battery technology  

Recent years, the technology in battery, mainly lithium ion battery has an exponential growth.As a result specific energy density of the battery increased in recent years. Battery prices also plummeting faster than many experts predicted.This is due to the advance research program on battery on recent years.Research is also going on Solid state battery and Aluminium air battery. Many expert and companies thinks that by 2022 electric vehicle become cost competitive on a life cycle basis(purchase plus fuel cost)with gasoline cars.

2#. Affordable and Longer range

Major drawback of electric vehicles during past days were short range and high cost.But now the battery technology is advanced and its cost reduced drastically.So electric vehicles becomes more affordable.And also electric cars that can operate solely on electricity more than 200 miles are coming to market.

3#. More charging stations are coming

Lack of charging stations-"Range anxiety" remains a bigger barrier in the usage of EVs.In order to overcome this Govt. is installing charging stations in major highways in India.Also charging stations are setting up in Workplaces, Apartments, Campuses, Public places and transit stations.Also many companies are offering free charging upto a certain period. Automotive giants like BMW, VW, NISSAN  have a bigger setup plans for charging station all over the world.

4#.Global imperative to cut carbon pollution and oil dependency.

EVs gained its popularity in the world due to its ZERO EMISSION. Due to the usage of fossil fuels the air quality in the major cities of the world and in India turned bad.If this situation continues, it fuels the dangerous climate change. World economic forum says that  6 of the world's 10 most polluted cities are in India. So in India, change is inevitable for the survival of humankind.
Govt. of India is planning may subsidies and programmes to boost the production and sales of EVs.

Just like one expert said "Watch out, Big oil.Your time of dominating the transportation sector is running out".

5#.Automotive makers are Embracing EVs.

World's best auto manufactures are concentrating more on EVs as they foresee huge acceptance of electric vehicle in near future.They are investing Billions of dollars to bring more EVs to the market. Indian companies like Mahindra, TATA, are leading the race in India.

Here you can find the list of EVs in India.


Share your opinion on current global EV market and steps India need to take to make EV more affordable.

KEEP READING.



BY  AFZAL YOUSAF

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