Electric Cars and the Fututre

Electric cars are not a new invention. Their birth is in the early 1890s, created by Robert Anderson in the USA. After that, many electric vehicles appeared across the country. Believe it or not, they were very popular, especially for the ladies. The Porsche founder Ferdinand Porsche created an electric car called P1, and the world’s first hybrid car. The problem was the gasoline car which was almost three times cheaper with a combination of the Texas crude oil, cheap gasoline – the electric car disappeared by 1935. Gasoline shortages in the early 1970s were again the reason electric cars were again wanted and further developed. At that time, electric cars had some disadvantages compared to gasoline cars, such as limited performance (45miles per hour), top speed, and only 40 miles before the next recharge. In the early 1990s, people’s interest in electric vehicles pushed their development further. Anyway, the interest was not that big, as the middle class still preferred gasoline cars. Two main things happened in the early 21 century, which changed electric cars forever. The first one was the car released in Japan – Toyota Prius. That was the first hybrid electric car best-selling worldwide. The second is, of course, the birth of Tesla Motor, a company that changed the way we see electric vehicles forever. With the help from the USA government, they build a network combining charging outlets, electric vehicle charges, and now, they are building worldwide!

The Battery of the Electric Car

Some of the biggest automobile giants such as General Motors, Audi, and many more are planning to go full electric by the end of 2033. That means that in the next 15 years, we will need massive batteries for all those millions of electric vehicles. Those batteries contain kilos of material that needs to be mined. They are two main goals for the scientists developing this technology.

The first is to reduce the cost of the battery, and the second one is to improve the recycling so that they can be reused. The EV battery could contain metals such as lithium, nickel, manganese, and cobalt. The good thing is those lithium-ion batteries are now 30 times cheaper than when they first hit the market. The cobalt, which is the most important material for the EV batteries, is mined mostly (2/3) in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The scientist is experimenting with low-cobalt or cobalt-free cathodes, and they will try to eliminate the metal from the electric batteries in the near future.

The other main goal is recycling. It is also a topic that needs to be explored further. Materials like cobalt or lithium are cheaper to mine than to recycle. Sooner than later, we need to find a way to recycle and reuse those batteries easier and cheaper, if we want to push the electric car like a main source of travel.

The Electric Airplanes

Yes, with the car we can drive as there is a road. But we all know that if we want to travel safer and cheaper, we should buy an airplanes ticket. So, let’s speak a bit about electric planes. I was very excited when I first heard about the concept of the Airbus zero-emission flight. Is that possible? So soon? I guess it is. In 2010 Airbus produced the first all-electric four engines’ aircraft – CriCri. Since then, projects like E-Fan X, Vahana, and CityAirbus are pushing the technology further and further. Go to the airbus official page and read more about all those projects.

The Difference Between the Electric Cars

They are four different kinds of electric cars:

• A plug-in hybrid – it can use energy for driving from both battery and liquid fuel.
• An all-electric vehicle – gets the energy only from the battery itself and must be plugged in to recharge.
• A plug-in electric vehicle – any car that can be plugged in. Doesn’t matter if hybrid or fully electric.

The Electric Revolution

Common readers, let’s imagine together. Please close your eyes and think of a city with no car-noises, no air pollution, no fuels, building producing their own energy, houses producing their own air or energy or water. No traffic, cars driving on autopilot, no car crashed, no people hit by cars. To build that future, we need to work together and think of future generations. I think a very good beginning would be if we reduced C02, reduced the poison of the oil fabrics, and changed the way we see the world around us. For better. So, if you have some saved money, browse, look at all the electric or at least hybrid models and choose. Choose it for a brighter future!