The sound of an engine starting. The smell of exhaust fumes. The tedious yet subconsciously enjoyable (for some people) task of going to the petrol station. Almost every person, in almost every country has experienced these things. Ever since men like Daimler and Benz released the petrol powered automobile, a love for petrol powered cars has gone viral all over the world. But now theres a new threat, the talk of switching to electric cars. Could this be the end of an era? Could the age of tinkering with an engine in the garage after work be over? Well, lets take a look at both arguments. I will brush over some of the important factors from both sides. Being just one of the people on earth affected by this topic, I will give my personal opinion, concluding on the matter.
Now okay I am a man of reason, I can see the world is changing. This meaning that I can see a need for electric cars as technology moves further. We all know that the oil fields are depleting while we speak and that it's not a renewable resource. Coming to the rescue so it seems, is the electric car, which requires no usage of fuel in operation. On top of this, the electric car would put an end to the traffic noise that keeps inner city dwellers awake at nights. Running solely off electricity these cars float down the highways. Floating almost with a green glow to them compared to their spluttering petrol counterparts.
Of course with anything new and innovative, there are some downsides. Noise being one of them, as it turns out electric cars are too quiet. Pedestrians worst nightmare could come in the form of an electric car. Stepping out to cross the seemingly quiet road, just to be struck by an electric car silently on its way.
Could this mean a return of the locomotive act of 1865? Involving a man waving a red flag walking ahead of the automobile, warning people of the new threat on the road. Though it would be a humerous sight, I doubt it will happen.
In addition to being too quiet, electric cars regularly require very costly battery replacements. Which for people who do high mileage, is far from ideal. Drivers who venture out into more remote areas will also find a lack of charging stations for their electric car. Running out of charge in the middle of nowhere would be hideously infuriating, especially if you had passed several petrol stations along the way.
On the other side of the spectrum we have our beloved petrol powered rivals. Of course the downside of our petrol car, is the debate as to whether the oil will run out leaving them unusable. Keeping that basis for a debate in mind, we have to realise that electric cars require oil to be produced anyway. The manufacturing process, and collection of materials all still require good old fashioned crude oil. So why waste all this time, efforts and developments on something that isnt really going to 'pave our future'. On top of that, in China where electric cars will be commonplace, the greenhouse gasses produced will exceed that of petrol cars. This is because of the huge demand it would put on their coal burning power grid during battery charging.
In recent years, the development of hybrid vehicles has introduced the best of both worlds in this petrol/electric debate. Having said this, the hybrid vehicle is still very much considered a petrol powered vehicle. I think that developments like this significantly reveal the benefits of using petrol over pure electric power. Fuel efficiency is outstanding with the hybrids, also without needing a charge station, you are free to venture into the countryside carefree.
I believe in my lifetime we will still be using petrol powered cars in one way or another. 120 years or so of developments has created the near perfect form of the petrol car we see today. Lets face it, the petrol car has become a part of us, a part of our everyday lives. Petrol powered cars have also formed one of man's most popular forms of entertainment, motorsport. I cannot, and will not accept the idea of crowds flocking to see silent electric cars racing around the track. Deafening engine noise and raw power is what pulls the crowd in to witness such unadulterated man made machines.
Motorsport alone will keep the hunger for petrol cars alive and thriving. Of course theres the people who blurt out how unnecessary and polluting motorsport is. Against this argument is the fact that as human beings, we need some forms of entertainment. And in terms of motosport, electric cars do not, and never will fill that space.
Now being a trade qualified mechanic myself, I have a biased opinion in favor for petrol cars. I think that in the future electric cars will be the way to go. However, in my lifetime I am certain that petrol cars will continue gracing our roads with their presence. In closing, contradictory to the title, I do not think it's goodbye to the petrol car...not for a long time anyway.
I would prefer electric cars in the future. Oil will be running out soon and petrol cars are harming the environment. Although you made a really good point earlier about electric cars being too quiet. I never thought about this. Electric cars may be better for the environment but they may cause more accidents!
ReplyDeleteAs far as I can visualise, electic cars are superior over petrol cars both on the contribution of cleaner environment and capacity. But I quite argree with Callum's arguement on the time needed for the development of the design and marketing policies.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments.
ReplyDeleteand yeah Andy you're right about NZ roads being noisy!
Call me old fashioned, but I see little point in electric vehicles although they do particularly well in public transport if you take a look at the number of electrified train and tram systems around the globe as opposed to their diesel based counterparts (like ours) and how effective they can be. I also happen to love the smell of petrol and the rumbling purr of a V8, but that's just my humble opinion much like yours. Great job dude.
ReplyDeletePS: That was an interesting little nugget about that law that you added in.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned that at this stage electric cars require costly batter replacements, however if demand were to increase and more companies started offering parts then slowly over the time, the prices would drop.
ReplyDeleteAlso while it may have taken 120 years to develop the petrol car of today, we're not trying to create the concept from scratch but we are trying to make a pre existing concept a lot more efficient and cost effective.
I guess ideally, you would want an electric car to get to work and a petrol car for the weekends.
I would like to prefer the petrol car because it is not clear that electric cars will have a good effect on environment. Electric car creates the waste products by using the enormous batteries, so we should focus on the issue of recycle before we welcome the electric car.
ReplyDeleteYour points that the accidents would increase cause noone would hear the cars coming was good cause i would never have thought about that, i think i would be more if it looks and sounds good get it without even looking at the risks and stuff.now reading you topic I have agree with majority of the comments above that i would prefer the petrol car over the electric car! But then reading Hassans POV that's a good way to look at it too.
ReplyDeletewith the problems with electric cars what do you think would replace petrol?
ReplyDeleteTom- yes i agree, the public transport system and electricity work very well together. Hopefully they will throw our diesel rattlers away and change to electric!. glad you liked the article about the law, I thought was funny too :P.
ReplyDeleteHassan- Yeah i agree actually, it is a pre-existing concept which will inevitibly develop further and equal the 'perfect form' of the petrol car...im just bias you know lol.
Akira- good point im on your side! haha yep petrol all the way.
Luseane- im glad i opened you eyes to the dangers of el;ectric quietness! :P