Remember the classic eco-documentary Who killed the electric car?, released the same year as An Inconvenient Truth (2006)? It was narrated by Martin Sheen and it began: “In 1996, electric cars began to appear on roads all over California. They were quiet and fast, produced no exhaust and ran without gasoline. Ten years later, these futuristic cars were almost entirely gone.”
Now electric cars, and their hybrid cousins, are making a (quiet) comeback. But are they as eco-friendly as they claim to be? How do they work? Where did they come from?
A brief history of the electric car
Electric cars were more popular than they have ever been (so far) in the late 19th and early 20th century when they were praised for being quiet and easy to drive (no gear changes, no need to hand-crank the engine) and for not vibrating or smelling of gasoline like other cars.
By the 1930s however, electric cars had been swept aside by advances in internal combustion engines and in mass production, which made petrol cars much cheaper; faster refueling times for petrol-powered vehicles; and the growing infrastructure of gas stations all over the United States in particular.
After a few faltering attempts at a resurgence, they finally started gaining momentum again in the late 2000s thanks to higher fuel prices, the looming spectre of peak oil, improved battery technology and growing concerns over the environmental impact of petrol-powered cars.
In addition to petrol-electric hybrids vehicles such as the Toyota Prius and Ford Fusion – Ferrari recently launched an electric-hybrid supercar with a top speed of 350 kph and Peugeot’s new Hybrid Air will run on air as well as petrol (!) – more manufacturers are now taking the all-electric road.
There’s the Chevrolet Volt, the Nissan Leaf (love the name), the sassy little Fiat 500e that costs less than $US20,500. In his State of the Union address in 2011, US president Barack Obama even announced plans to have a million plug-in cars on US roads by 2015.
How do they work?
Instead of a petrol-powered engine, electric cars have an electric motor (under the bonnet, where the engine should be). A “controller” takes energy from rechargeable batteries (the Tesla Roadster uses 6831 automotive-grade lithium-ion batteries like those in your laptop) and sends it to the motor. For more technical know-how, see the Tesla website.
Take your doubts for a test-drive
At the 2012 Green Living Show in Toronto, Mitsubishi launched its innovative new marketing campaign for its first electric car, the i-MiEV: the Electriphobia Research Institute, which “studies and treats the fastest growing fear in the world – the fear of the electric car”. Quirky, with a serious side, it uses 45-second video clips to explain away six uncertainties people often have about electric cars: fear of electrocution, fear of silence, range anxiety, tailpipe separation anxiety (electric vehicles produce no emissions, so have no exhaust pipes), gas withdrawal anxiety and fear of becoming a “hemp-weaving, drum-surfing hippie”.
7 reasons to love electric cars
1. They produce no emissions. The only emissions come from wherever your electricity comes from which will decrease as renewable energy grows. Tesla has been expanding its SolarCity network of photovoltaic-powered charging stations which it claims will cover the whole of the US, then Europe and Asia, so Tesla drivers will be able to recharge their cars using the sun, for free.
2. They’re quiet – so quiet that the UN Economic Commission for Europe will introduce a ruling later this year to ensure electric cars make enough noise that pedestrians and cyclists can hear them coming. Some manufacturers are already there; the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, for instance, has an Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System (AVAS), an apparently pleasant sound “scientifically engineered to alert pedestrians when it’s driven at low speeds”.
3. You can recharge anywhere there’s a 240-volt power point. You can even monitor how much charge your vehicle has on your smartphone. Oh, and most electric motors recharge themselves when decelerating or driving downhill (!).
4. They’re cheap to run – it costs about $US2 to charge an electric vehicle. You can even set your vehicle to recharge during cheaper, off-peak times at home.
5. They’re convenient – and will become moreso as more charge stations are built. Better Place has developed switching stations where you can swap your drained battery for a fully charged one and be on your way, instead of having to recharge. One day soon there might even be wireless highways that charge cars on the move.
6. They can travel up to 480 kilometres on a single charge. The Mitsubishi i-MiEV can go 155 kilometres, the Nissan Leaf can go 170 kilometres and the Tesla Model S (which can travel at up to 209 kph) has a range of 480 kilometres. Fiat 500e has coped with “range anxiety” by offering 12 days of regular car rental a year (for the first three years) for when you need to take a trip that’s longer than the Fiat 500e’s 140-kilometre range.
7. They’re efficient. The Tesla Model S is made of lightweight aluminium, strengthened by steel in key areas, which makes it run more efficiently than heavier vehicles. Electric cars also have a better power-to-weight ratio than petrol cars so you get more torque and faster acceleration at low speeds (in case you were wondering).
If they must have a downside, it’s that their purchase price tends to be higher than comparable petrol models. But as the electric vehicle industry grows (and electric cars become smaller, like the Fiat 500e), electric cars are sure to become more affordable and even more convenient than they are now. Are you ready to make the switch?
Written by Louise Southerden, an award-winning travel writer, author and eco-blogger based in Sydney, Australia. Follow her on Twitter, like her on Facebook and read more of her work at No Impact Girl.
