The Next Generation of Vehicle

The widespread use of electric vehicle

If you have follow my posts, you will realize that I only mention electric vehicle in personal use. In the first post, I talked about how fast a Tesla electric vehicle is. It only takes 4.6 seconds from 0-60 mph. In the second post, I talked about electric vehicle save a lot of gas in order to protect our environment and save money. In the last post, I talked about drivers do not need to worry about gas when they go for long distance trips. Electric vehicles seem really great on different aspects. Then you may have a question in mind, “If electric vehicles are much better than gas vehicles, how come people do not use it on public transportation?”

In fact, there are many countries including The United States, are developing the market of electric vehicles. The New York Times mentioned that New York and other 7 states are going to team up for encouraging more charging stations. So that, electric drivers do not need to worry about charging problems. Those local government  are going to purchase some electric vehicle for themselves. In this case, they hope they can encouraging more people to drive electric vehicles. Their action affirmed the advantages of electric vehicles: the safeness, environment friendly and conveniences.

Furthermore, The New York Times pointed out that there is a company already producing electric buses for transit agencies in Los Angeles. Those electric buses can run 155miles on a charge. That is very efficient electric vehicles compare to others. As the government is encouraging more charging stations around the United States, it is going to popularize the market of electric vehicles. In the near future, I believe that  government would change all the public buses around the county to be electric vehicles. At that time, the percentages of electric vehicles in the United States should be same as or even more than the percentage of gas vehicles. In this case, people not even can travel around with cheaper costs. They also protecting our environment in order to give the best to our next generation.

Electric bus in Los Angeles

 

Sources: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/25/business/energy-environment/coalition-of-states-seeks-to-spur-use-of-electric-cars.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/30/automobiles/from-china-to-los-angeles-taking-the-electric-bus.html?_r=0

 

The Development of Electric Vehicle

Everything has two sides. As I mention in the last post, although electric vehicles look fantastic on different  dimensions, they also have drawback.Many people believe electric vehicles are much more expensive than the regular ones. Also, people always have a major question in their minds, “How can I charge my electric car if I am traveling a long distance?”

Actually, people have thought about all these questions while inventing electric vehicles. Although it costs more than a regular gas car, it is more environment friendly, so it is better for our health. Also, in a long run, it will save money. According to the article, Are Electric Cars Cheaper to Run? 

“The biggest savings will be in fuel. A gallon of regular gas today costs an average of $2.70, according to theU.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Residential electricity costs on the other hand, only average $.11 per kilowatt hour (again, according to the EIA). Nissan says a full charge of their Nissan Leaf electric car will cost $2.75.”

It only costs $2.75 to get a electric car fully charged and it can run for 100 miles. Regular car can only run for 30 miles with one gallon of gas which cost $2.70. From this, we can draw  the conclusion that electric cars are really much cheaper than gas cars when considering the long term.

For the question about long distance travel, there is a recent news report that can answer the question right away. The article, Drive a Tesla from Tijuana to Vancouver, mentions that people can drive Tesla’s vehicle though the entire Western Coast of the United States nowadays. And they are planning to build charging stations along major highways in the United States by 2015. At that time, people will be able to drive around the entire United States without worrying about the issue of power. Tesla is also planning to improve the capability of swapping the battery. In that case, people can replace a fully charged battery in 90 seconds. So traveling can be cheap, fast and safe with nothing to worry about.

On my next post, I will talk about the future of electric vehicles what the factories will look like and how to make driving electric vehicles more convenience. If you are interested in electric vehicles, please keep follow my post.

Sources: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/are-electric-cars-cheaper-to-run.htm

http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/30/autos/tesla-west-coast-supercharger/

Tesla Charging Station