Electric vehicles — are they a realistic option for the future?
✍ Scribed by M. Dunckley
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 1993
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 392 KB
- Volume
- 42
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0378-7753
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
In the 197Os, as a result of rising oil prices and supply shortages, the concept of an 'electric vehicle programme' saw increased attention from legislative bodies, the automotive industry and general public groups. At that time, numerous 'experts' foresaw oil and fossil fuels running out early in the twenty-first century. As a result, a number of key issues came to the fore under the broad heading 'energy conservation'. A major part of this initiative was the need for a rethink of the automotive vehicle -the electric vehicle was considered a solution. In the event, the oil crisis of the 1970s came and went and the pressing debate for energy conservation and new vehicles went back into a more considered perspective. What emerged in the early 1980s was a new way of looking at automobiles. Cars were to become generally smaller and more fuel efficient. To add to the development of the car of the 1980s came a further new issue -the environment itself. The car became known as the single largest contributant to pollution. Increasing numbers of vehicles came to be seen as literally choking to death the planet earth. The next step in the story of the evolution of the vehicle was to control exhaust-gas emissions. One city, Los Angeles, even went so far as to legislate that by 1998, 2% of all new vehicles in the State must be 'zero gas' emitting. More North American states were to follow, to a point that every major car manufacturer in the world took note and has now embarked on a programme to develop a 'zero-gas' emitting vehicle. Today, the concept of an electric vehicle is back in focus. Throughout the world, the media are highlighting the electric vehicle as the next generation of transportation. The cynics argue that they have heard it all before, others believe that this time it could actually happen. For the battery industry, the implications could be enormous, and would change the industry as it is known worldwide. This paper discusses the options and likelihood of an electric vehicle programme going into mass manufacture, and its ramifications for the battery industry.