If you are thinking of buying an electric car for yourself then you must analyze the pro and cons of owning one. One of the biggest questions that electric car owners face is which vehicle should they choose - All Electric Vehicle (AEV), a gasoline vehicle or Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV)
Let me first explain them one by one
These types of electric vehicles are also called as pure electric vehicles as these vehicles are purely powered by electric motors. The electricity may come from batteries (battery electric vehicle), fuel cell (fuel cell vehicle) and solar panels (solar panel vehicles).
As the name suggests these are hybrid electric vehicles that have rechargeable batteries. These batteries may be recharged from an external source or an internally build mechanism of internal combustion engine-powered generator. These vehicles run on a combination of electricity and gasoline.
Gasoline vehicles are the same as diesel vehicles. These mainly use diesel and petrol as fuel and emit harmful oxides which degrade the environment.
In this blog, we will clear the most common question or doubts that will assist you in making a quality decision on which type of car you should buy?
Energy efficiency of a vehicle is defined as the amount of energy converted from a fuel source to move the wheels. The electric cars have very high energy efficiency around 70% whereas conventional gasoline vehicles are only 15-25% efficient. Electric vehicles also use regenerative braking phenomenon which is wasted in gasoline vehicles when we apply brakes.
According to a blog published by TESLA, battery powered EVs uses regenerative braking to convert the kinetic energy into chemical energy which is stored in the battery. Later on this stored energy can be used to drive the vehicle.Electric vehicles contribute to fewer emissions than conventional gasoline vehicles. All vehicles generally produce two types of emissions: direct emissions and life cycle emissions
Direct emissions include all green house gases mainly carbon dioxide, smog forming pollutants like nitrogen dioxide and other gases which are harmful to living beings.
All electric vehicles (AEVs) produce zero direct emissions whereas plug in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) produce substantial amount of emissions as they use gasoline engines also. But due to their high efficiency, the amount of pollutants produced is very low as compared to gasoline vehicles.
Life cycle emissions include all the emissions from manufacturing and usage. For a gasoline vehicle life cycle emissions may include emission caused in vehicle production, distribution, recycling etc. It is difficult to calculate the life cycle emission of vehicles.
All types of vehicles produce life cycle emissions but electric vehicles emissions are very less as compare to gasoline. As electricity is a renewable source of energy so the overall life cycle emissions are low. EVs can further reduce their life cycle emissions if the companies use renewable energy resources like wind and solar to produce electricity.
So if you are choosing an electric vehicle you are taking a huge step towards sustainable development.
The electric system like battery, motors require minimal scheduled maintenance as compared to a combustion engine. So, all Electric cars require low maintenance as compared to traditional gasoline cars. Since PHEVs also uses internal combustion engines, so their maintenance is quite high as compared to AEVs but is lower than gasoline vehicles.
Here are the four reasons due to which EVs require low maintenance
Batteries in AEVs have limited number of charging cycles. So be sure to check with dealer about warranty of battery and charging cycles. Some of EVs use liquid coolant to maintain the temperature. So refer to the vehicle manual for more information. Some PEVs offer 8-year/100,000-mile warranties of their batteries. The warranty may vary from vehicle to vehicle so be sure to check this point.
The performance index of EVs is higher than gasoline vehicles. Most people assume that the vehicles with high and rough sound have more speed and torque. Electric cars create very little noise but that doesn't mean they have low performance. In fact the opposite is true. EVs have higher torque and speed as compared to gasoline vehicles.
The use of electric motor in EVs is helpful in providing full torque in very less time from 0 kilometre to full speed. EVs uses power more efficiently as they have less moving parts. In traditional vehicles, the power is lost in moving parts like gearbox etc. This makes electric vehicles less efficient.
Some of the models of TESLA provide full self-driving capability - driverless electric cars. These cars run on auto-pilot.In future, we might see that the gap of price between EV and gasoline vehicle will decrease due to technological advancements.
Even the government in Canada is also encouraging people to own electric vehicles. They are offering rebates around $5000 for a vehicle. To know more check out the list on Transport Canada. If you are living in British Columbia, you will be getting an additional rebate of $3000. So if you are looking for car loans in Surrey BC on electric cars and enjoy this compensation then do connect with our dealership.The charging time depends on the size of battery and the speed of charging. Newer and more expensive models can be fully charged with in 4 hours. But this number is still very high. PHEVs battery can be charged by an internal mechanism, so they are more reliable than AEVs.
So, before taking any quality decision do keep these points in mind.