Morrow 1

Ryan Morrow

Malcolm Campbell

UWRT 1104

8 November 2018

Go Electric, Save the Earth, and Pass the Gas

“Some people don’t like change, but you need to embrace change if the alternative is

disaster.” These wise words are spoken by Elon Musk, the a guru of the electric car. There It is

no secret that the gasoline-poweredd vehicles produces an alarming amount of emissions which

are harmful to the environment. Fortunately, the future is here. With the success of the electric

car company Tesla, and the promise Volvo has made to make all their cars electric by the year

2019,, an enormous step toward the future of transportation is happening right now. According to Comment [MOU1]: Maybe shorten?

Loren McDonald, an expert and avid writer of the electric car, there were about “one hundred

electric cars on the road in 2010.” Fast forward to current day, there are now “over one million

electric cars on the road” (McDonald). You may find yourself asking questions such as: So Comment [MOU2]: Already gave street cred

what? Is the electric car all that it is said to be? To answer this in the simplest way possible, yes.

Just recently, one of my neighbors has purchased an electric vehicle. After a couple Comment [MOU3]: delete

months of owning the car, they constantly express to me how amazing the car is and how they

cannot see themselves going back to the traditional gasoline-powered vehicle. For them, the best

part of owning their electric car is knowing that they are producing zero emissions, a concept

that needs to be embraced in order to ensure the environment is preserved for future generations.

As the world continues to develop, more and more fossil fuels are needed in order to keep the

world running. Unfortunately, the burning of fossil fuels has contributed many different factors Comment [MOU4]: maybe talk about how we
rely on fossil fuels
in regards to the destruction of the environment. For this reason, the demand for the electric car
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has experienced its largest boom in the past couple years and will only continue to boom because Comment [MOU5]: over*
Comment [MOU6]: *grow
of all the benefits it provides.

The Benefits

In a scholarly article written by Andre Bacard, Bacard illustrates what the future will look

like with the electric car when he states, “No tune-ups. No corroded mufflers. No oil spills. No

smog. Imagine a world without gasoline cars. Envision a planet with electric cars purring quietly

and cleanly along our roadways.”. In other words, look at all these benefits of the electric car

compared to the effects of the gasoline-powered vehicle; and this is not even close to all of them. Comment [MOU7]: Maybe elaborate on this

One of the major benefits of the electric car is that it pollutes significantly less compared

to the rivaled gasoline-powered vehicle. Due to the high concentration of vehicles in urban areas,

such as cities, most of the pollution from cars found in these kinds of areas come in the form of Comment [MOU8]: delete

smog. However, with the increasing desire of the electric car, pollution within urban areas will Comment [MOU9]: *interest

see a drastic decrease. Bacard provides specific statistics about the decrease of pollution with the Comment [MOU10]: delete

increase of the electric car when he exclaims, "The California Air Resources Board estimates Comment [MOU11]: I would probably just
say “states” or something
that, compared to gasoline-powered vehicles, electric-powered vehicles emit 98 percent less

hydro carbons (the key contributors to ozone depletion and smog), 89 percent less nitrogen

dioxide, 99 percent less carbon monoxide, and less than half as much carbon dioxide.”. Yet

some people are still convinced that the electric car does not have what it takes to surpass the

gasoline-powered vehicle. Crazy, right? The ability for all these pollutants to be decreased with

the use of the electric car only furthers the argument of why the electric car is going to one day

be as common as gasoline-powered cars are now.

Another major benefit is that electric cars conserve energy. On one hand, there is the

gasoline-powered vehicle which uses energy non-stop while it is running. Even when you stop a Comment [MOU12]: Fuel*
 Morrow 3

car at a red light, or park out front of a friendsfriend’s house while you wait for them to come

outside, energy is being used to run the car the whole entire time. It is said that “twenty percent Comment [MOU13]: Fuel*
Comment [MOU14]: Maybe delete
of fuel in gasoline-powered cars is lost” while sitting stationary (Bacard). On the other hand

however, the electric car does not require the use of energy, and obviously does not burn any Comment [MOU15]: delete
Comment [MOU16]: *fuel- because
gasoline while sitting stationary, or anywhere else for that matter. Because of this, “Tests electricity is a form of energy

indicate that an electric car consumes about 35 percent less energy than the equivalent gasoline-

powered car” (Bacard). This ultimately proves how much more efficient the electric car is

compared to the gasoline powered vehicle and how it conserves so much more energy. The result

of this means the demand for fossil fuels, in regards to the gasoline-powered vehicle, will over

time decrease and there will be a shift in the need for more renewable energy sources which can Comment [MOU17]: Decrease over time

be used to produce the electricity needed to charge electric cars. In the long run, the switch from Comment [MOU18]: Maybe shorten

gasoline-powered vehicles to electric cars will ultimately help save the environment, thus further

proving why the electric car will take over the gasoline-powered vehicle.

The Cost

Due to the obvious and major differences between the electric car and the gasoline-

powered vehicle, the cost of the two cars are going to be different. When electric cars first began

to hit the streets, the cost of the car was much higher than the competing gasoline-powered car.

In a scholarly article written by James Healey, a writer for USA Today, Healey illustrates the Comment [MOU19]: *an- because I don’t
think usa today is scholarly
price difference between the electric car and the gasoline-powered vehicle when he states, Comment [MOU20]: He*
Comment [MOU21]: Difference in price*
“Ford's electric Focus starts at $39,995, or $30,495 after the $7,500 tax credit and a Ford rebate

of $2,000. The gasoline Focus with automatic starts at $18,090 and has more trunk room because

there's no big battery back there.” In other words, the sticker price of the electric version of a

Ford car is much more than the sticker price of the gasoline-powered version of the same car.
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However, this does not necessarily mean the electric car is more expensive and certainly does not Comment [MOU22]: All electric cars are

mean the electric car will not ever become cheaper than the gasoline-powered cars. Like most Comment [MOU23]: *electric cars
Comment [MOU24]: delete
new innovative technology, the price in order to possess the technology starts off at a very high

price. As time goes on and newer technology is developed, the prices begins to decrease. I Comment [MOU25]: maybe re-word

suspect the same exact concept will be mimicked when it comes to the electric car. Rebecca Comment [MOU26]: delete maybe

Matulka, a writer for Energy.gov, futures this thought when she expresses, “Currently more than

3 percent of new vehicle sales, electric vehicles sales could to grow to nearly 7 percent -- or 6.6

million per year -- worldwide by 2020, according to a report by Navigant Research." As of now,

the electric car is fairly new and slightly more expensive, but as time goes on and the electric car

becomes more common, the price of the car will drop and eventually become cheaper than the

gasoline-powered vehicle. For example, Tesla currently dominates the electric car industry and Comment [MOU27]: shorten

has recently released the Tesla Model 3 electric car. According to Tesla’s website, prior to the

release of the Model 3, Tesla did not offer an electric car less than seventy-five thousand dollars.

The Model 3 can be purchased for roughly thirty-five thousand dollars, a price most Americans Comment [MOU28]: some

can swallow.

Even though the sticker price of electric cars is currently higher, the cost of the electric Comment [MOU29]: maybe delete cause
already used
car is much cheaper compared to the gasoline-powered vehicle. Once a person purchases an

electric car, there is the instant and obvious fact that the person will not spend a penny on Comment [MOU30]: maybe delete

gasoline for the duration of the car. Think about this. I currently drive a 2015 Jeep Grand

Cherokee which requires me to fill up two to three times a month. for sixty dollars each time

with the current price of gasoline. So in one year, if the gas prices remain the same and do not Comment [MOU31]: Every time, due to the
current price of gasoline, I am spending at least
sixty dollars.
spike to almost four dollars like it has in the past, I will be spending about twenty-two hundred

dollars minimum on gasoline per year. A person with an electric car would only be spending a
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fraction of this to charge their cars. Andre Bacard expresses the savings experienced with the

ownership of an electric car when he writes, “Electric cars require almost no maintenance. Their

electric motors are run by batteries, which can be recharged, usually overnight, in one's garage.

The cost to recharge these batteries (one must pay for electricity) is roughly one-fifth the cost of

gasoline.”. In other words, the lack of expenses experienced when owning an electric vehicle

makes up for the sightlyslightly more expensive sticker price which, as I stated before, will

eventually not be an issue.

Common Arguments Against the Electric Car

Since the electric car is challenging the traditional gasoline-powered vehicle, many

people feel the need to defend what they are useused to rather than embracing the future. Others

will simply defend the gasoline-powered vehicle due to a lack of knowledge when it comes to

the benefits of the electric car. No matter what a person’s reason is for condemning the electric

car, there is an abundance of information and evidence that can refute the arguments against the

electric car in order to show why the electric car is better than the gasoline-powered vehicle.

One of the main arguments people bring up in regards to the electric car, has to do with

the range the car can travel per charge and how long it takes the car to charge before being able

to drive again. As electric cars first began to emerge into the market, the average distance a car

could travel on one charge was about one hundred miles. In order to charge the car, it could take

anywhere from two to twelve hours depending on the size of the battery and how much voltage

the charger can produce. The result of this is that people are always worried whether or not their

car will die while they are out driving and if it did, they would not be able to quickly charge it. In

an article by Edward Schumacher-Matos, this idea of people worrying about their car dying

while driving is refuted when he claims, “A recent study concluded that most consumers driving
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electric will cease to experience range anxiety within three months of driving their EV.” In other

words, once people are useused to their electric car, they will know its abilities and how far they

can go on one charge. All it takes is getting used to something new, which is the same with all Comment [MOU32]: The new vehicle

technology. As technology continues to improve, so does the electric car. Let’s take the electric

car company Telsa and use them as an example. As of now, Tesla offers three different kinds of

cars, the Model S, Model X, and Model 3. According to Tesla’s website, the minimum range one

of these cars can travel is 295. The maximum mile range is 335. In order to charge these cars, it

takes only thirty minutes to receive enough charge to travel 170 miles. Any normal day around

town will easily be manageable and a and long road trip would only require stops that take the

same time as getting food. Where technology is at right now, there is no reason to worry about Comment [MOU33]: Not bad, but u can
probably use a really good writers move w this
the range of the electric car and how long it takes to charge. It will only improve in the future

which proves why the electric car has the ability to surpass the gasoline-powered vehicle.

According to Bjorn Lomborg, former director of the Danish government's Environmental Comment [MOU34]: Denmark’s or just
delete
Assessment Institute in Copenhagen, “It is time to stop our green worship of the electric car. It

costs us a fortune, cuts little CO2 and surprisingly kills almost twice the number of people

compared with regular gasoline cars. It is advertised as a zero-emissions car, but in reality it only

shifts emissions to electricity production, with most coming from fossil fuels.”. Lomborg, along

with many other electric car skeptics, believe emissions are only shifted from the car to the coal

plants making the electric car not as “green” as people tend to believe. Although it is true that

burning coal, a fossil fuel, is a main source for how electric cars are charged, this does not mean

the amount of fossil fuels being burned is anything to worry about. Andre Bacard refutes this

argument when he states, “Assume that a car lasts for 100,000 miles. Over this lifetime, the

cleanest gasoline-powered car currently on our roads will emit roughly 200 times more pollution
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than an electric car!” Which one sounds worse now? That is what I thought. The electric car

emits a significantly less amount of pollutants compared to the gasoline-powered vehicle. On top

of that, the ways to obtain energy for charging electric cars is only going to improve as people

are always looking for more renewable resources and better ways to obtain electricity. According Comment [MOU35]: Maybe chop this up to
two sentences
to Tesla’s website, their company’s electric car fleet alone is saving 3,784,071 tons of carbon

dioxide worldwide and this number continues to grow every second. I think it is safe to say that

there is not enough of a negative impact on the environment for the electric car to not succeed.

The electric car is greener than any other car on the market in most ways, and it will only

continue to become greener as energy production turns toward renewable resources that are

much better for the environment.

In Conclusion

The electric car is here to stay and will soon be the dominant type of car driven around

the world. Whether or not a person completely agrees that the electric car will surpass the Comment [MOU36]: Maybe say how theyre
not on board right now, but the they will be
gasoline-powered vehicle, it is a simple fact that the electric car is the future. The electric car is

much more environmentally friendly, cheaper in the long run, and conserves more energy than

the gasoline-powered vehicle. I am not saying the electric car will surpass the gasoline-powered

vehicle in a blink of the eye, but one day in the near future gasoline-powered cars will not be as

common as the electric car. I believe as more and more people begin to purchase electric cars,

they too will be as happy as my neighbors are with their car. The future is here. So letslet’s go

electric, save the environment, and pass the gas together.

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Works Cited

Bacard , Andre. “Electric Cars: A Drive Toward Fresh Air.” Humanist, vol. 54, 3, May 1994, p.

43–44, http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=3a39ff8c-0aba-465c-

9bb4-27b4dba8e911%40sdc-v-

sessmgr01&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=a9h&AN=940

6031595. Accessed 3 November 2018.

James R. Healey, and USA TODAY. “Electric Cars vs. Gas Cars.” USA Today. EBSCOhost,

librarylink.uncc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.librarylink.uncc.edu/
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login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=J0E124353845113&site=ehost-

live&scope=site. Accessed 21 October 2018.

Lomborg, Bjorn. “Electric Car Benefits? Just Myths .” USA Today , 19 Feb. 2015, p. 07a.

Matulka , Rebecca. “The History of the Electric Car .” Energy.gov, 15 Sept. 2014, https://

www.energy.gov/articles/history-electric-car. Accessed 21 October 2018.

McDonald, Loren. “14 Experts Share Their 2018 Electric Vehicle Predictions.” Clean Technica,

11 Mar. 2018, https://cleantechnica.com/2018/03/11/14-experts-share-2018-

electric- vehicle-predictions-developments-2/. Accessed 3 November 2018.

Schumacher-Matos, Edward. “Mailbox: Electric Cars Have a Future, But Some Still Doubt”

Ombudsman. 21 December 2011. National Public Radio.

https://www.npr.org/sections/ ombudsman/2011/12/21/144088377/mailbox-

electric-cars-have-a-future-but-some-still- doubt. Accessed 3 November 2018.

Tesla: Electric Cars, Solar Panels & Clean Energy Storage. Tesla. https://www.tesla.com.

Accessed 3 November 2018.