Introduction
With increased public concern about global warming and environmental protection, electric cars have become a popular trend in the automotive industry. Electric cars are considered a sustainable alternative to conventional gasoline automobiles. Both types of vehicles provide people with mobility but with different driving forces and an unequal impact on the environment. Yet, although electric cars are emission-free, they have some environmental issues similar to those of gasoline cars.
Differences in Construction
At first sight, the only evident difference between an electric and gasoline car is that the former does not possess a tailpipe because it does not emit any gases. However, these types of automobiles are very different on the inside. It is said that up to 70% of parts of an electric car may not be similar to those of a gasoline vehicle, though some of them can perform similar functions. For example, to store the energy for running a vehicle, a conventional car uses a gasoline tank, while an electric car has a battery (Idaho National Laboratory [INL], n.d.). Other parts of these vehicles are also designed so as to make cars move using the appropriate type of energy.
Differences in Cost and Maintenance Requirements
The differences in the construction lead to distinctions in maintenance and cost of ownership. In electric vehicles, the motor is the only moving part, as compared to hundreds of moving parts in gasoline cars (INL, n.d.). As a result, electric automobiles require less maintenance because of a lack of necessity to change component parts frequently. However, owners of electric cars have to change the battery quite often because current technologies have not advanced so far yet so as to produce a battery lasting for the whole vehicle’s time of service (INL, n.d.). The need to regularly change batteries leads to higher ownership costs of electric cars, which was 44% higher than that of gasoline cars in 2015 (Brennan & Barder, 2016). However, with technological advancements, electric cars are likely to become more cost-effective because they are less dependent on the cost of electricity than gasoline cars depend on the fuel prices (Weldon et al., 2018). Thus, in terms of expenses and maintenance, electric cars can be considered a better choice.
Ambiguous Impact on Environment
It is generally believed that the key difference between electric and gasoline cars is in their dissimilar impact on the environment. Indeed, electric vehicles do not pollute the air with exhaust gases during the movement, which cannot be said about conventional cars. Nevertheless, like gasoline cars, electric vehicles make their negative contribution to environmental pollution. While producing electric vehicles and batteries for them, as well as charging batteries, plants still may use carbon-intensive sources of energy, such as coal (Hausfather, 2019). As a result, even though electric cars do not emit gases and make a smaller contribution to air pollution than gasoline cars, they are still not sustainable enough. In order to achieve the true environmental friendliness of electric cars, the whole energy industry should be transformed to operate on near-zero carbon sources.
Conclusion
To sum up, the differences between electric and gasoline cars are numerous, ranging from distinct construction to dissimilar cost of ownership and maintenance requirements. Despite these differences, some similarities exist between these types of vehicles. The most evident one is the appearance of automobiles, with the only obvious difference being the absence of tailpipes in electric cars. The cars have a different direct impact on the environment, with gasoline cars emitting exhaust gases and electric cars moving without emissions. However, due to the use of carbon-intensive sources of energy in car-manufacturing plants, electric vehicles still cannot be considered quite sustainable.
References
Brennan, J. W., & Barder, T. E. (2016). Battery electric vehicles vs. internal combustion engine vehicles. Web.
Hausfather, Z. (2019). Factcheck: How electric vehicles help to tackle climate change. CarbonBrief.
Idaho National Laboratory. (n.d.). How do gasoline & electric vehicles compare?
Weldon, P., Morrissey, P., & O’Mahony, M. (2018). Long-term cost of ownership comparative analysis between electric vehicles and internal combustion engine vehicles. Sustainable Cities and Society, 39, 578-591. Web.