Check Out the Positive and Negative Points of Electric Cars Before You Buy

Many people are thinking about buying an electric car. Even more people are looking at the best way to convert a car to electric.

There is heightened interest in the electric car with today's unstable gasoline prices. There are surely some advantages. However, there are also several disadvantages, too. Before you decide one way or another, consider a few of these issues.

Electric Car Advantages

1) No tailpipe pollutants. If you're someone who considers it essential to breathe pure air and desires to cut back on pollution, this is an important advantage. Gasoline powered cars use just about 15% of their fuel in moving the car; the rest of the fuel creates heat and polluting gases. Around 80% of the battery energy goes into moving an electric car without exhaust gases.

Some people take advantage of solar arrays or wind power to recharge their vehicles. Most electric vehicles are recharged using power from electric utilities. Contaminants from electric power plants are normally well regulated and located in areas far from high populations.

2) Electric Power is Cheap. Compare the cost to travel 100 miles. It may take a couple dollars worth of electricity. Your car may require $15 to $20 worth of gasoline to travel 100 miles. Gasoline prices are market driven and change almost daily--too often rising. Electricity costs are stable--often controlled by state utility commissions.

3) Electric Vehicles are Simpler. The electric motor in an electric car has about 5 moving parts. It takes hundreds of moving parts to make a modern gasoline motor work. The gasoline powered car requires a lot of control devices to regulate fuel and air flow to the engine in addition to exhaust from the engine. Electric vehicles require a controller to manage power flow to and from the batteries.

4) Lower Maintenance Costs. Because the gasoline powered car has more moving components, it needs more wide-ranging, thus more expensive, upkeep. Electric vehicles usually require tire rotations and occasional refills of the window washer fluid. Beyond 7 to 10 years the major upkeep will include changing out the batteries.

Drawbacks of Electric Cars

1) Higher Initial Cost. At present electric cars are more costly, mainly because of the lithium-ion batteries used in most cars. Lithium-ion batteries are employed instead of typical lead-acid batteries because of their superior storage capacity which gives an increased driving range.

2) Range Limitations. Almost all electric cars can go 50 to 100 miles before the batteries must be recharged. Of course, the kind of batteries, number of batteries, weight of the car and transmission (manual or automatic) have a big influence on driving range. The vast majority of electric vehicles are used for neighborhood driving and are recharged at home. Some people extend their driving range using an auxiliary gas powered generator.

3) Restricted Availability of Recharging Stations. In contrast to gasoline stations, battery recharging centers are few indeed. Without a supplemental generator your driving range often restricts you to neighborhood errands.

4) High Cost to Replace Batteries. When it comes time to replace your vehicle's batteries you should expect to spend from several thousand dollars to ten thousand dollars or more.

5) Time to Recharge the Batteries. You can fill up a gasoline powered car in just a few minutes. An electric vehicle could take hours to recharge. Charging duration will depend on several factors including the kind of batteries, the controller used as well as the voltage and current available. Changing might take as little as 20 minutes or could require 8 hours or more.

Is an electric car in your future? You've now got an idea about the major factors involved in making the proper decision.