How Hybrid and Electric Cars can Help
By improving efficiency and decreasing oil usage and pollution,
these new cars will greatly help reduce the problems previously
mentioned such as global warming and air pollution. Along with reducing
pollution, using renewable resources and more efficient fuel sources
can greatly reduce the US dependence on oil which will have both
financial and political benefits.
The ultimate goal is to have zero emission vehicles which are powered
from renewable resources such as solar, wind, hydroelectric power
that have no emissions, or to use more efficient less polluting
energy forms such as nuclear fusion and/or fission. With zero emission
vehicles, electric power plants would be the only source of global
warming pollution and air pollution. Even using fossil fuels instead
of renewable resources, global warming emissions can be cut by 70%
and other air pollutants are cut 99%. Hybrid vehicles are just a
step towards the next-generation of cleaner more efficient vehicles.
Though they are very similar to any gas car with regards to emissions,
they are more efficient and consume less fuel and therefore there
are less emissions.
The new generation of cars will last longer, be more efficient,
and are much cleaner. They are simpler to maintain and in some ways
are recyclable. Take electric cars for example, batteries and tires
are pretty much only things needed to be replaced. New tire technology
can make tires that never wear down tread, but yet tire companies
have chosen so far not to produce them. Lead acid batteries are
98% recyclable. Lead is melted down and reused, plastic case is
shredded and reused, and acid is neutralized and made into fertilizer.
EVs and more efficient cars would greatly reduce
emissions of dangerous pollutants such as organic gases, nitrogen
oxides, and CO. The graphs below compare electric vehicles with
some gasoline vehicles with regards to various pollutants.
 
 
Graph's courtesy of http://www.evchallenge.org/hs_webpages/2002/wakef/environmental.html
- Substituting an electric vehicle for a conventional vehicle
for a year would save the emission of 17 pounds of hydrocarbons,
14 pounds of nitrogen oxides, 200 pounds of carbon monoxide, and
12,000 pounds of carbon dioxide.
The graphs below illustrate how oil usage, and more importantly,
global warming, can be curbed as vehicles like hybrid cars become
more efficient and increase their miles per gallon.
courtesy of http://evworld.com/library/NRDC_oilsecurity.pdf
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Source: http://www.evchallenge.org/hs_webpages/2002/wakef/environmental.html
Source: http://rqriley.com/ev-tech.html
Source: http://www.etvi.org/High_Tech/New_benefits_hitech.html
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