Nature's Green Remedy

In the last decade, there have been changes in the automotive market that significantly favor the use and development of Eco-friendly cars. Cars with internal combustion engines depend on fossil fuel to move about town. Gasoline is becoming increasingly expensive, and prices will only continue to rise since it’s a non-renewable resource. Apart from the cost factor, using gasoline also has a negative impact on the environment: regular cars release toxic emissions of greenhouse gases, which pollute the atmosphere and contribute to global warming. To solve these kinds of problems, the automotive industry has jumped over leaps and hurdles to create energy-efficient vehicles that depend on less gasoline to operate (or none at all), to effectively cut costs and pollute less.

Between the years 2004 and 2005, sales for hybrid cares increased by more than an astonishing 141 percent. Hybrid cars use gasoline and an engine, but also have an electric motor to provide extra power, significantly reducing the overall amount of gas consumption while improving mileage. With the success of hybrid cars, most major automotive companies have begun to jump on the bandwagon and contribute their own hybrid models and unique designs. However, although hybrid cars are a good step in the right direction, they are not the complete solution to the cost and environmental problems, because they still emit pollutants and and require the regular purchase of fuel.

Electric cars, although not widely used yet, have an answer for each of these problems. They use no gasoline and have absolutely no emissions. Their system is simple: an electric motor (instead of an engine) is connected to a controller, which is connected to a series of rechargeable batteries. These batteries do the work that gasoline would have done, and can be recharged with the same electricity that powers a home. Because they have no engine, electric cars are almost silent when they run, helping in a small way to reduce noise pollution. Having an electric car also means that there is also need to go to gas stations, pay for gas, or deal with engine repairs and the other usual problems that are common with regular cars. Electric cars don’t have these components, so there is never a need to repair them.

But do these Eco-friendly cars have the same basic comforts and functions that a consumer would look for in a regular car? Fortunately, the answer is yes. In general, electric cars look and are handled just like regular cars, although a few of the new designs are streamlined for a more modern look. Either way, they are just as easy to drive as a regular car. The breaks function through a vacuum pump, and the gas gauge is replaced with a volt meter that displays the level of battery charge (full, half, empty, etc.) They also come installed with both air conditioning and a small electric water heater to warm the car in cold weather.

Since electric cars run purely on a charged battery, one of the main concerns consumers have is the idea of losing power while driving, or running out of power early in the day with no time to recharge. Most drivers only travel cover a distance of 30-40 miles in an average day, which is approximately the distance that the car battery will allow, making electric cars perfect for day-to-day use, but not optimal for road trips. Although early electric cars could only last 40-60 miles before needing to be charged again, there are new advancements that allow for a much longer battery charge, and thus, more uninterrupted driving time. The Tesla Roadster, for example, operates with a powerful network of rechargeable lithium ion batteries. These are the same batteries found in a laptop but on a much larger scale. This allows the car to drive for up to 250 miles on a single charge. (The average electric car with a non-lithium battery system charges up to about 100 miles worth of driving time.) While standard electric cars require up to 12 hours for a full charge, the Roadster can be charged in 9 hours, or even in just 3.5 hours if the consumer installs a recharging station in their garage with a 220-volt, 70-amp outlet. Standard electric car batteries last for three to four years, but because the Roadster has revolutionized their system, Roadster batteries last up to seven years before needing to be replaced.

Although the benefits of using electric cars are many, there are still a few concerns that prevent them from becoming even more mainstream. One is that although the cars themselves have no emissions, the electricity needed to charge up the car usually comes from household electricity, which usually comes from power plants that burn fossil fuels, causing pollution. Fortunately, the “fuel,” or source of energy to recharge the car can come from any source, including cleaner energy sources like biomass, wind or solar power.

Another concern is the cost of purchasing these Eco-friendly cars. Prices are still high when compared to regular cars, and most people aren’t willing to spend extra money to have an electric car, even if they’re concerned about the environment. However, more affordable options are becoming readily available, such as the Nissan LEAF. It costs about $32,000, but federal tax rebates bring the price down by thousands of dollars, for as low as $20,000-$25,000. Although electric cars themselves are more expensive, they have less maintenance costs. In fact, the Tesla Roadster works out to about $5 per 250 miles, a fraction of the gas cost that would be needed to cover the same distance in a regular car. Overall yearly operating expenses are estimated at $2,000 for an electric car, and $6,000 for a regular car, proving that electric cars can be just as economical as they are environmentally friendly.