Electricity is Good for the Environment

Have you ever wondered about what kind of fuel is the cheapest? With the way people seem to be switching to more electric cars over gas, I wanted to compare the two. I feel, that there has been more technology in electric cars within the last 5 years than there has been in gas cars in the last 10 years. The factors we will need to consider when comparing electric cars to gas cars consist of convenience, cost of electricity/gas, and speed and mileage.

One of the first things to consider is convenience. Is it easier to plug in your car to charge or when you’re running low on gas, in which you will have to stop in at any of the millions of gas stations at every corner? With an electric car, some people have a charger in their garage… talk about convenient. It is easier to charge an electric car because you have to take your car back to your house at the end of the day anyways, rather than having to make one more stop to get gasoline. Electricity does sound good for the environment because it is renewable, but the way that we “renew” it is really bad for the environment. There are many ways to make electricity including; solar, wind, hydro, nuclear, fossil fuel, wave and many others. Out of just those and many others, the only ways to make electricity that is not all too bad is; hydro, solar, wave, and wind, the rest either polutes or harms life, whether it global warming or poisoning wildlife.

Cost is another huge factor when comparing gas to electric cars. When it comes to the amount of “fuel,” electricity for cars is measured in kilowatts, gasoline is measured in gallons, so there is no similarity other than mileage between the two. It is app. $0.25 per kWh to charge an electric car and about $3.75 per gallon for gasoline. Most electric car owners charge their car at home, some charge as soon as they get home and unplug it in the morning. when they drive to work and some set their car to charge at midnight because it is the cheapest time to charge your car. Overall when it comes to batteries, when charging you want to leave it off of the charger as much as possible, meaning that if you leave it on from 6pm until 6am, overtime it will shorten your battery life. Others rely on public charging stations to fill up their car to save money on electricity which are ultimately batter because it is cheaper and it lengthens battery life. Once your batteries in your electric car have finally “died”, what are you supposed to do with the battery, leave it on the side of the road, burn it, or recycle it?The problem with recycling batteries is they use fossil fuels to burn it which ultimately puts out more pollution. For gas cars, once the gasoline is used to make explosions in the motor, it will eventually come out the exhaust. One way we could use the batteries, is for the event that we have a major power outage. 1 battery in a tesla, weighing 1000 pounds, could power a house for a few months.

Speed and mileage are one of the last key factors to consider before making a decision to go with a gas car or an electric car. Electric cars are know to have more torque, which is the equivalent to acceleration, and gas cars are know to have the faster top speed. Electric cars are also known to have a much shorter range than gas cars, for example; The 2019 Toyota Camry LE has been able to reach app. 663/689 (city/highway) miles on a single fill and the equivalent size of an electric car is; the Tesla Model S, which has a maximum range of 335 miles. Overall the gasoline cars win the battle for mileage and top speed, but when it comes to electric cars, they have the best acceleration (torque).

Electric cars are cheaper and easier to maintain than gas cars, therefore they are the better choice in gas vs. electric. Electric cars are the better option because you do not always have to pay for charging, but when it comes to gasoline, you always have to pay. In my opinion, electric cars are the more convenient and cost efficient choice, but ultimately it would be up to each person to make the decision depending on their lifestyle. 

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