Problem:
Overall, diesel and petrol automobiles emit hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and lead pollution contributing towards the GHG thread.
Solution:
The electric automobile is far less polluting.
From 1997, the Toyota Prius hybrid-electric automobile was the ambassador for the revival of the solution of the electric automobile. Since its launch, Toyota has sold 4.3 million units Currently, over thirty manufacturers are making battery-electric automobiles with a range of 250 to 700 miles (400 to 1,000km).
According to the “Global EV Outlook 2020”, the sales of electric cars reached 2.1 million globally in 2019, surpassing 2018 – already a record year – to boost the stock to 7.2 million EVs. Annual sales of EVs is predicted to exceed 3.5 million vehicles in 2030, reaching more than 20 percent of annual vehicle sales in 2030.
BloombergNEF expects one in 10 vehicles purchased in 2025 will be battery-powered and although COVID-19 has temporarily put the brakes on, by 2022 there will be over 500 different EV models available globally.
Three of the world’s best-selling electric automobiles are the Nissan Leaf (500,000 units), the Tesla Model 3 (500,000 units) and the Renault Zoë (218,000 units), according to EV-Volumes. The two-seat Renault Twizy quadricycle has sold over 30,000 units.
And on September 22, 2020, Tesla announced it would have an electric car priced at $25,000 available in the US market by 2023.
Bloomberg adds that by 2040, the world will need about 12 million public charging points. As of July 2019, there were over 170,000 public charging stations for electric vehicles in Europe, over 400 charging stations are owned by Ionity with an average of six charging points per station.
As of July 2020 The Tesla-only fast-charging is now at 2,035 public stations with 18,100 individual chargers in North America, compared to about 1,400 charging points for ChargePoint, a company that operates an independent network of EV chargers and 1,660 points for Volkswagen’s Electrify America network.
General Motors is teaming up with the EVgo charging network to add 2,700 fast-charging connectors in cities across the U.S. By August 2020 EV charging stations passed the million mark globally.
There are almost one dozen Apps which inform drivers there whereabouts of the nearest and most available charging points. As the leading app for EV drivers, PlugShare provides near-global coverage of charging stations and over 800,000 downloads.
“Global EV Outlook 2020”, IEA Technology report ,June 2020; “The Electric Vehicle Outlook 2020”, Bloomberg New Energy Finance
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One reply on “24: Electric cars”
Its also interesting to note than an increasing number of private and public charging points for EVs are solar powered: some such as the innovative Zappi smart charger even use only the electricity surplus generated after taking into account other household needs, thereby creating 100% renewable self-sufficiency in motive energy.