What do you think about Electric Cars ?

Electric cars were among the preferred methods for automobile propulsion in the late 19th century and early 20th century, providing a level of comfort and ease of operation that could not be achieved by the gasoline cars of the time. The electric vehicle stock peaked at approximately 30,000 vehicles at the turn of the 20th century.

In 1897, electric cars found their first commercial use in the US. Based on the design of the Electrobat II, a fleet of twelve hansom cabs and one brougham were used in New York City as part of a project funded in part by the Electric Storage Battery Company of Philadelphia.

During the 20th century, the main manufacturers of electric vehicles in the US were Anthony Electric, Baker, Columbia, Anderson, Edison, Riker, Milburn, Bailey Electric and others. Unlike gasoline-powered vehicles, the electric ones were less noisy, and did not require gear changes.

Advances in internal combustion engines (ICE) in the first decade of the 20th century lessened the relative advantages of the electric car. Their much quicker refueling times, and cheaper production costs, made them more popular. However, a decisive moment was the introduction in 1912 of the electric starter motor which replaced other, often laborious, methods of starting the ICE, such as hand-cranking.

Six electric cars held the land speed record. The last of them was the rocket-shaped La Jamais Contente, driven by Camille Jenatzy, which broke the 100 km/h (62 mph) speed barrier by reaching a top speed of 105.88 km/h (65.79 mph) on 29 April 1899.

In the early 1990s, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) began a push for more fuel-efficient, lower-emissions vehicles, with the ultimate goal being a move to zero-emissions vehicles such as electric vehicles. In response, automakers developed electric models, including the Chrysler TEVan, Ford Ranger EV pickup truck, GM EV1, and S10 EV pickup, Honda EV Plus hatchback, Nissan Altra EV miniwagon, and Toyota RAV4 EV.

Both US Electricar and Solectria produced 3-phase AC Geo-bodied electric cars with the support of GM, Hughes, and Delco. These early cars were eventually withdrawn from the U.S. market.

California electric automaker Tesla Motors began development in 2004 on what would become the Tesla Roadster (2008), which was first delivered to customers in 2008. The Roadster was the first highway legal serial production all-electric car to use lithium-ion battery cells, and the first production all-electric car to travel more than 320 km (200 miles) per charge

Tesla global sales passed 250,000 units in September 2017. The Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance achieved the milestone of 500,000 units electric vehicles sold in October 2017. Tesla sold its 200,000th Model S in the fourth quarter of 2017

Global Leaf sales passed 300,000 units in January 2018, keeping its record as the world's top selling plug-in electric car ever. Tesla delivered its 100,000th Model 3 in October 2018.

any countries have set goals to ban the sales of gasoline and diesel powered vehicles in the future, notably; Norway by 2025, China by 2030, India by 2030, Germany by 2030, France by 2040, and Britain by 2040 or 2050. Similarly, more cities around the world have begun transitioning public transportation towards electric vehicles, than previously was the case.

As of 2018, electric cars are less expensive to run than comparable internal combustion engine vehicles due to the lower cost of repairs and energy. However, as of 2018, electric cars on average cost significantly more to initially buy, and depreciate more quickly than conventional cars.

The Chinese auto manufacturer BYD calculated on its website in 2015 that a BYD e6 taxi over five years would give a saving of about $74,000 over the equivalent petrol consumption.

In 2018 the Australian Federal Government’s advisory firm on vehicle emissions estimated the TCO for electric cars was 5 to 10 thousand dollars more per year than a roughly equivalent petrol powered car.

High prices. Toxic batteries. Terrible range. The world is full of alarming stories about why electric vehicles are bad. But the reality is very different.

It’s easy to understand why people have these misconceptions. This is a new technology, one that the public is only just learning about. That makes people vulnerable to the exaggerations of companies that don’t want to have to change. But if we look at the facts, it doesn’t take long to tear those arguments apart.

The “long tailpipe argument” is one of the most popular and important misconceptions. It’s the idea that, once you take the environmental costs of manufacturing into account, electric vehicles are just as polluting over their lifetime as vehicles using fossil fuels.

As with many misleading arguments, this has a true fact at its core. Electric vehicles are more polluting to produce than comparable fossil fuel vehicles. A full-size electric vehicle with a range of 265 miles is 68% more polluting to produce than an equivalent gasoline-powered car. But only looking at manufacturing means missing out on the big picture.

Manufacturing creates only a small proportion of the pollution from any vehicle. Once you combine manufacturing with years of driving, electric vehicles produce less than half the global warming emissions of their gas-fueled equivalents.

As electricity generation gets greener, the environmental impact of driving an electric car keeps falling. Even when its electricity is generated entirely using fossil fuels, an electric vehicle will emit 25% less pollution during its lifetime. By using hydroelectric power and renewable energy, this can get as high as 64%, reducing a driver’s environmental footprint by two-thirds.

The biggest practical problem holding many people back from going electric is the cost. There’s a widespread perception that it’s more expensive to drive an electric than a gas-powered car.

But this doesn’t take into account the savings made over the lifetime of the vehicle. Reduced costs for fuel and a reduced likelihood of something going wrong mean that an electric car can work out cheaper over its lifetime.

The price of electricity is significantly lower than for gasoline or diesel. Though electricity and gas prices vary regionally, on average, a gallon of petrol in the US costs twice as much as the equivalent electricity.

For managers of vehicle fleets, this balance between up-front costs and long-term expense can be balanced using FleetCarma’s Electric Vehicle Suitability Assessment. This shows when gas-powered vehicles can be replaced with electric ones in a cost-effective way.

Early electric cars had problems with range. Their relatively small battery capacity meant that they soon needed to recharge. Opportunities to do this were few and far between.