For many years the world has used petrol and diesel vehicles as a way to travel around the country, and even the world. They have been around since the 19th century and have adapted in all ways, leading to well-known and established car brands nowadays, such as Porsche, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Toyota, Volkswagen, and many others. These companies have made several models and have also gained several millions as time progressed. However, as time goes on and global warming becomes a much more noticeable problem due to the excessive use of fossil fuels, many governments, especially the British government, are working towards introducing more and more electric cars.
It has been predicted that by 2035, the sale of new petrol, diesel and hybrid cars will be banded in the UK and from then onwards, new cars and vans sold in the UK must be fully electric. One of the biggest benefits of electric cars and other vehicles is that they produce zero emissions when they’re running. This means that the number of toxic gases released into the atmosphere by petrol and diesel vehicles would decrease and help the environment rather than hurt it. Although initially it may cost a lot to manufacture these cars, in the long run they will prove to be sustainable and definitely help the environment in numerous ways.
Electric vehicles are also much safer than normal petrol and diesel cars and provide a better driving experience with certain qualities that those other cars do not can not have. For example, an electric vehicle offers instantaneous torque as well as smooth and quiet acceleration which many drivers may enjoy.
Mandy Gunn expresses how she thinks that electric cars will help to ‘keep the world safe from global warming and also resolve the ongoing issue of the rising price of fuel’.
Recently, the prices of fuel have increased due to the growing demand for crude as sources of fuel are slowly running out. Following the easing of Covid-19 travel restrictions, the demand had also grown as more and more people wanted to travel out of their house after being confined during lockdown. However, oil production among the world’s biggest suppliers has struggled to keep pace leading to a higher demand with not enough supply to meet this. Furthermore, following tensions between Russia (the world’s third biggest oil producer) and Ukraine, oil prices have risen further. Electric vehicles do not require any petrol or diesel at all, so the rising prices of fuel would be irrelevant and more of these fuels can be saved for other purposes.
However, electric vehicles can often cost much more to buy than many normal petrol and diesel cars and it is often quite difficult to conserve and not run out of electricity to power the vehicle. This may be a problem, especially on long journeys where you may have to stop and charge the vehicle for an hour, or longer, before having enough electricity to power it and reach your destination, and to add to this problem, there may not be many charging points in certain areas. Petrol and diesel vehicles on the other hand do not share this problem and can easily be filled with fuel, at the many petrol stations located around the country, when their tanks run out, and then can drive and continue their journey right away. In addition, there are many other downsides to electric vehicles such as the fact that their batteries need rare metals and making them can also create many emissions.
Nevertheless, many car brands including Porsche and Ford have already begun introducing new and improved electric cars, and other newly emerging brands such as Tesla seek to set an example and compete with brands. If the whole of the UK slowly moves towards the use of electric vehicles by 2035, it is likely that there will be a very large decrease in toxic emissions and the amount of pollution may also see a decline in value as time goes on.
