Have You Heard Of The Environment-Saving Electric Vehicle?
While imagining the future of vehicles what comes to your mind? Vehicles that fly? Ones that can take you to space? That are powered by electricity?
Well, what if we told you that we are in fact already in the future of vehicles. With space travel already becoming a possibility, today let’s explore vehicles that run on electricity!
What is an Electric Vehicle?
An Electric Vehicle (EV) runs on electricity instead of petrol or diesel. These vehicles don’t have a combustion engine, instead, they have a battery that powers electric motors to make the vehicle move.
But, don’t regular vehicles also have batteries?
Yes, regular vehicles do have batteries. But in a vehicle that runs on petrol or diesel, the battery only helps in starting the engine. After the engine is on, you will need petrol or diesel to run the vehicle. Whereas in a fully electric vehicle, the battery alone makes the whole vehicle move.
How do you charge an Electric Vehicle?
Electric Vehicles are charged at facilities called charging stations. They look similar to a petrol pump. But instead of pumping petrol and diesel, they charge the vehicle using long cables.
![An electric car plugged into a charging station](https://s3-ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/subscriber.images/the-learning-tree/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/26091945/shutterstock_1082414501.jpg)
An electric car plugged into a charging station
How common are EVs?
If you love cars you may have heard about Elon Musk’s company Tesla, which makes electric cars. But did you know that India is also making great strides in EVs?
What’s the big deal about EVs?
Electric Vehicles are better for the environment in three big ways:
1. Energy-efficient: When a vehicle is able to convert most of its fuel into energy to move, it is considered to be energy efficient. Vehicles that run on petrol or diesel tend to waste fuel, but electric vehicles convert most of the electricity into energy.
2. Low carbon emissions: Electric Vehicles don’t produce any emissions from their tailpipe. This helps in reducing pollution.
![Polluting carbon emissions from the tailpipe of a non-electric vehicle](https://s3-ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/subscriber.images/the-learning-tree/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/26092730/shutterstock_338476505.jpg)
Polluting carbon emissions from the tailpipe of a non-electric vehicle
3. Low maintenance: Electric motors require less maintenance compared to a combustion engine. They are also quieter and run more smoothly!
Electric Vehicles sound perfect! Is there no downside to them?
Electric Vehicles do have some drawbacks:
- Charging time: Charging an electric vehicle can take anywhere from 30 mins to 12 hours.
- Battery drain: The batteries of electric vehicles drain very quickly.
- Cost: At the moment electric vehicles are costly to buy. However, with the government’s efforts, they may soon start becoming more affordable.
When you look at the benefits of EVs you will see that all of them are environment-friendly. That’s why the government wanting to convert all vehicles into electric vehicles is a huge step towards protecting our environment. The time to take actionable steps towards saving our planet is not in the future, it’s already happening.
What do you do in your everyday life to help the planet?
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