Human civilization started back in 3000 BCE in Lower Mesopotamia. At that time no one knows anything. As time passed humans discovered ways to make life easy, and vehicles are one of them. A vehicle is a means through which one can travel from one place to another. Before the invention of vehicles, people used to travel barefoot. Over the time they realized that instead of going barefoot they can use animals like cows, horses, donkeys, etc. for traveling, but they were not able to carry their luggage through animals so they attached the carts to the animal and bullock carts, horse carts, hand-pulled carts/rickshaw, etc. were invented. But these modes of transport were time-consuming and can be used for up to a certain distance only. For traveling far distances these modes can’t be used as animals also have their limits and capacity.
A French inventor Nicolas Cugnot realized this problem and invented the world’s first vehicle in 1692, it was a steam-powered vehicle that used to run at walking speed. Then various innovations were made in the automobile sector over the years. In the 1830s, two inventors Robert Anderson, a Scottish inventor, and Thomas Davenport, an American inventor invented the world’s the first electric car. That car used to have non-rechargeable batteries which were later replaced with rechargeable batteries when they were invented. These cars become popular among people and they were preferring to buy them. The electric car was gaining popularity till Henry Ford introduced Model T.
In 1908, Henry Ford introduced Model T which was gasoline powered car (also known as an internal combustion car) and inexpensive also. Gasoline was cheaper and readily available. Since in many rural areas’ electricity was not available and the gasoline-powered car had a range that electric car didn’t have people started preferring gasoline-powered cars over the electric car. By 1915, the market shares of electric cars plummeted. But the US was concerned about the availability of fuel in the future and the pollution that internal combustion car creates, so they asked automobile companies to look for an alternative energy source for vehicles. By 1970 hybrid cars were available in the market. Hybrid cars are not fully electric cars but their batteries were used to optimize the efficiency of the gas-burning car.
Tesla, in the year 2008 introduced the first fully electric efficient car called the Roadster which can go 244 miles on a single charge. After which rage among people got developed to try out an electric car. Because electric car creates no noise neither inside nor outside of the car and it causes less harm or no harm to the environment as compared to internal combustion cars which run on fuels like petrol and diesel. Electric vehicle emits no pollution into the environment. A vehicle with an internal combustion engine releases poisonous pollutants into the atmosphere, such as nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, smog-causing volatile organic compounds, formaldehyde, benzene, and Sulphur dioxides. These cars use petrol and diesel as their energy source but petrol and diesel are non-renewable energy sources which means their availability is limited and they can’t be reused so if they get vanished completely, we can’t restore or get them back.
Electric car or electric vehicle solves this problem as they run on electricity and electricity can be generated in many different ways like nuclear power, hydroelectric power, solar power, etc. however I believe solar power as a source for generating electricity is the most environmentally friendly and economical. Because we have to install solar panels for generating electricity from sunlight which is available for free and that electricity can be used in households, buildings or for charging the electric vehicle. north-western, western, south-western, and central states of India are the ones which are the hottest states among all and these states can easily use solar power plants to generate electricity. Internal combustion engine car requires frequent services because they run on petrol and diesel whereas electric car which runs on electricity doesn’t require frequent services, this ultimately makes electric vehicles cost-effective.
Both the population and consumption of petrol and diesel are growing at an alarming rate. Due to this prices of the fuels are getting inflated almost every day, which makes travel expensive. Whereas electric cars are proved to be very pocket friendly. Charging points for electric vehicles can be installed at homes or any building, and we can leave electric vehicles on charging overnight, and in the morning we can go anywhere without stopping for refilling fuels for the car which will save our time.
The future of e-vehicles in India is very bright because the government of India is not only giving full support to e-vehicles but the government is promoting the e-vehicles also by providing various incentives and subsidies like the government have reduced the tax on vehicles to 5% only and apart from that it is providing the subsidies also on the purchase of e-vehicles. The government of India has put e-vehicle charging points/stations under the service sector and no license is required for them, it has also instructed that every new commercial building like malls, cinema halls, office buildings, etc. should have electric vehicles charging points compulsorily. According to a survey report among the top 10 polluted cities of the world, 7 cities are from India. Also, internal combustion vehicles run on petrol and diesel which are found in India, and hence it is imported from other countries. In the year 2020-21, India imported approximately 239 million tons which are worth USD 77 billion, this huge import can plummet with the increased use of e-vehicles. The government aims to have 30% of the automobile market for e-vehicles by the year 2030 through the “ Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles in India” scheme.
However, it is not that e-vehicles are completely replaceable with internal combustion vehicles because e-vehicles too have problems like batteries used in e-vehicles have limited capacity like normal vehicles have fuel tank capacity, even if we get them fully files, we can go up to certain limit only but the issue is if petrol tank gets empty, we can easily find petrol pumps to get fuel tank refill again. but e-vehicle charging stations can’t be found easily and hence we can’t travel beyond its range limit. Therefore, to increase the usage of e-vehicles government has to increase the number of e-vehicles charging stations apart from that e-vehicles manufacturers can develop a system in which people can transfer batteries or carry an extra battery or can set up switching stations. Apart from all these, battery charging time can be a great problem. whenever we go to the petrol pump our vehicles get refile in just a few minutes only likewise such a mechanism should be developed by e-vehicles manufacturer in which discharged batteries get fully charged in just a few minutes only. If we can find solutions to these problems, can I believe that e-vehicles will have a bright future and will replace all existing vehicles with e-vehicles in just years? E-vehicles are believed to be the future of the automobile industry.
By- Palak Jain
Jaipuria Talks Blog 