At the end! The electric car industry gains momentum

The electric car industry has had many false starts, with the first coming in the 1880s. To be exact, the first successfully built electric car hit the road in 1888, having rolled out of an assembly plant. German manufacture. Since then, several other attempts have been made throughout history to bring these cars to the mass market without success. The current wave of enthusiasm for them began in 2008 and is likely to continue, considering how far the industry has come in the last five years. All things considered, it seems that these cars are finally breaking through the “glass ceiling” to enter the mainstream car market.

These cars, as the name suggests, are cars that run entirely on electric power. The energy is stored in a reserve (battery) from which it drives the engine or engines that drive the car. Since electrical energy is renewable, these cars have garnered quite a bit of attention in recent years due to their ability to eliminate the emissions problem that plagues global environmental conservation efforts. It is well known that motor vehicles contribute the most to the emissions threat. As such, a switch from diesel and gasoline powered vehicles will undoubtedly reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by a massive margin.

This makes them one of the solutions to global warming and its devastating effects. At this point, one might wonder why, if these cars have the potential to solve such a serious problem, they haven’t been adopted on a wide scale. There are several answers to this question.

First of all, his inability to travel long distances without interruption has been by far his biggest flaw. Since they are powered by a battery, battery capacity becomes an issue of interest. Until recently, batteries could only store charge capable of powering an electric car over a distance of 90 kilometers at a time. This shortcoming led to what electric car enthusiasts commonly refer to as ‘range anxiety’. The problem was further exacerbated by the fact that charging infrastructure was largely lacking or underdeveloped in most parts of the world. Owning an electric car was therefore impractical.

However, there is some good news! Tesla recently introduced a new battery with a range of 315 miles for use in these cars. This translates to 506.9 kilometers. No doubt this will effectively solve the issue of range anxiety and make these cars more popular because most car owners, for example in the US, drive less than 40 miles per day. This, coupled with the fact that charging infrastructure and equipment is being established around the world, ensures that people no longer worry about being stranded on the road when their batteries die. To add to the good news, today’s batteries can be charged much faster and more efficiently.

Another contributor to the growing popularity of electric cars has been their prohibitive cost. Although today almost every major car manufacturer has its own model in this category, they still produce them on a small scale, which makes production very expensive; costs that are freely transferred to the buyer. The implication here is that even though some environmentally conscious people may want to have an electric car, they can’t afford one that can meet their travel requirements. For example, Tesla models equipped with the 500 km capacity battery will cost between $134,500 and $135,500. This price range is well above the means of the average car owner. However, it is encouraging that as such improvements will increase in popularity, this will lead to mass production and eventually cost reduction.

These two have been the biggest obstacles for the electric car industry. However, since they are gradually being outgrown, the electric car industry is preparing to kick off. It’s only a matter of time before they upset the status quo in the auto industry. There have been claims that automakers have been persuaded by oil industry stakeholders to abandon their ambitions to populate the world’s roads with electric cars. A classic example is the GM EV1. However, currently the world has passed that stage and it can finally be said that electric cars will compete favorably in the automotive market. Then yes! There is hope for the electric car industry.