Roughly Draft
(A step between the outline and working paper, does not include my analysis or conclusion)
Over the past few years there has been rapid growth in the electric vehicle sector. In addition to effective marketing and high performance driving specs of various electric cars, many people are attracted to switching from gasoline powered cars to electric because of the publicized cost and pollution savings. Because of this heightened interest in electric vehicles, a debate has been growing on whether electric vehicles are indeed better for society and whether they should be invested in as the new standard in transportation and a major solution to the climate change and pollution crisis or whether electric vehicles are just a useless distraction in the fight against climate change. In an attempt to answer this question for myself, I have deemed lifecycle cost and emissions the two most important aspects of the electric versus gasoline vehicle debate. In this paper, lifecycle costs are the total costs throughout a vehicle’s life when driven a standard distance and lifecycle emissions are the total emissions released for a vehicle’s life including emissions from producing the vehicle itself with its various components, and the emissions from gathering and using the energy that a specific vehicle runs off of to go the standardized distance above. Using these two main components, I will evaluate if electric vehicles produce less emissions and cost less than gas making them a better, investment worthy solution for the transportation industry or if staying with gasoline vehicles is the better option.
In addition to the research mentioned above, I am designing and building an electric moped from the frame of a gas moped. This part of the project is a valuable learning experience because it is my first major, real-world engineering build, preparing me for my intended major in college and profession of mechanical engineering. Furthermore, after a period of time following the completion of the moped, I will be able to reflect on the usability of an electric vehicle in my own life and how often I still have to use a gas vehicle/ how many miles I still need to travel by gas vehicle.
Electric cars have gained more attention as pollution, mainly from greenhouse gasses, has increased leading to more rapid climate change causing higher sea levels and more extreme natural disasters. Additionally, with many climate scientists and studies predicting a bleak future if humans keep emitting the same amount of greenhouse gasses, many people are driven to come up with solutions and help stop or at least slow down the rate at which humans produce pollution. Focusing on reducing emissions in transportation has become one major aspect to the fight against pollution because in the U.S. transportation produces 26 percent of the total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and the majority of of emissions that the transportation emits is from passenger vehicles [1]. A transformation of the U.S. transportation sector could have massive effects on reducing emissions. Although electric vehicle technology has been around for over 100 years, combustion engine vehicles were able to adopt the electric vehicle’s original major advantages of easy operation and quieter running noise [2]. Ever since the gas automobile was able to accomplish similar qualities of electric vehicles more economically, electric vehicle technology has not been developed nearly as much and purchasing a gas vehicle has become cheaper than electric vehicles, making them even less desirable for the average consumer [3]. However, if electric vehicles can be proven better for the environment and more economical when including the cost of maintenance and use in addition to the cost of purchasing the vehicle, people would be more inclined to buy electric vehicles and further spur the development of the electric vehicle industry increasing the economic value and efficiency of the technology.
The main arguments against electric vehicles involve the price of components that make them up, the energy intensive manufacturing processes involved, and the polluting electricity generation process. The concern with electric vehicles high price, because of high-tech components like the batteries, is that it may not be feasible for society to adopt because there may not be the fund to do so. Secondly, making components such as, again, batteries can be quite an energy intensive process. Opponents of the electric vehicle argue that the energy put into the vehicle’s production is intense enough to outweigh the energy saved through electric vehicles being more efficient than gasoline vehicles. Lastly, to subtract from the environmental lead that electric vehicles may have over gasoline vehicles, electric vehicle sceptics claim that electricity sources such as coal, natural gas, and nuclear power are actually more polluting than people are accounting for and that even renewable energy such as solar produces a higher greenhouse gas emissions because of the emissions from each panel’s production. The argument against electric vehicles is based on the factors above combining to make electric vehicles more polluting than gas and a poor solution to the vehicular greenhouse gas emissions.
Proponents of electric vehicles on the other hand have arguments against the anti electric vehicle claims arguing that electric vehicles are in fact better for the environment and a viable solution in the struggle against pollution and climate change. People in support of electric vehicles argue that even including the emissions from building the vehicles and creating the electricity, electric vehicles still emit less pollution. Additionally, electric vehicles are a much smaller market than gasoline vehicles so if electric vehicles were more fully adopted, they would receive funding closer to what gas vehicle’s receive and would become even more efficient and economical. Determining whether electric vehicles’ lifetime emissions are lower than gas vehicles’ lifetime emissions becomes the key to finding the truth about the effectiveness of electric vehicles.
To evaluate the economics, I will compare the lifecycle costs of an electric vehicle that is similar to a standard passenger car to its equivalent gas vehicle. The equivalent gas vehicle will be determined based on vehicle driving performance and features though finding an equivalent car is not an exact science. Using the two equivalent cars I will use their base price msrp and then add the average lifetime costs of maintenance and energy (based on New England prices) over a standardized lifetime distance of 166,000 miles found in the Union of Concerned Scientists electric vehicle report to find which is more economical for the consumer. I will also include in this section thoughts from an economist working for an electric vehicle company (most likely from Brammo) on where they expect the market to go and future sales and price predictions. However, even if electric vehicles are more economic than gas vehicles, they should not be invested in unless they are beneficial for the environment and lowering greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere.
As mentioned above, I am calculating the total greenhouse gas emissions for the average gasoline and electric vehicle’s entire lifetime (from production and use) to determine the more environmental type of vehicle. I will also put in this paragraph any qualifiers for my calculations or preliminary responses to an argument. For example, if the claim that renewables such as solar and wind are not as effective as commonly thought because of the pollution produced from making the panels and turbines is invalid, I would explain why it is invalid by showing that the energy/pollution used to make the renewable resource technology is far less than the energy saved making the pollution produced not a significant enough figure to affect the total energy equation to affect the overall equation for comparing the total energy systems. Additionally, quotes from the electric vehicle experts on either side of the argument will most likely go here before the evaluation.
VII. Ev energy systems evaluation/ environmental impact/pollution of entire EV lifecycle
VIII. Gas vehicle energy systems evaluation/ environmental impact/pollution of entire gas vehicle lifecycle
IX. Conclusion/ remind reader of findings throughout the paper to give final answer and a look to the future
Future outlook for electric vehicles and their place in the fight against climate change-how effective they will be.
[1] Epa. “Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions.” epa.gov. Last modified February 14, 2017. Accessed April 4, 2017. https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions.
[2] Mom, Gijs. The Electric Vehicle: Technology and Expectations in the Automobile Age. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013.
[3] Ibid