ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Con's: Challenges facing success of EV industry

So electric vehicles sound like the perfect car for the future, right? While there are great benefits to electric cars, there are still many downsides to them as well which have kept the cars from jumping into the commercial market today. The two main limiting factors keeping EVs off the streets today are the cost and battery restrictions. First, because EVs are not mass produced like normal cars and are mainly produced as concept cars, they are much more expensive. Most of this cost actually is a result of the batteries which are the most restricting component, not just cost-wise, on EV's success. The batteries limit the range and power of the EV, so the vehicle usually does not accelerate as fast or top out as fast as a typical car, and more importantly, the range of EVs averages between 70-90 miles per charge which makes long distance travel much more difficult. As well as having a short range, electric vehicles take sometimes 8 or more hours to charge which can be a hassle and charging can only happen where there is charger, which is usually at home. Because technological advances in batteries have the ability to make EV's practical, it is the highest studied area with electric vehicles.

INTERESTING TO NOTE…

About 70% of Americans in cities drive less then 25 miles per day, 90% drive less then 50.
New batteries being studied can give EV’s a range from between 300-600 miles which can also be recharged in under an hour.

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Source: http://home.tampabay.rr.com/rageer/evs
Source: http://sdge.com/EV/Benefits/batteries.html