If you are planning on purchasing an electric car, it is imperative to understand the various facets of its functioning. Its benefits, type, how to charge and register them, and most importantly, what kind of range do they provide for driving. It undoubtedly happens to be the best way to transition to a quieter and cleaner future of driving.
There exist two variants of electric cars bifurcated as per the amount of electricity consumed as the source of energy.
Battery Electric Cars
These vehicles are completely electric, which means they are fully driven not by an engine running on petrol but by electricity. They are highly cost-efficient, quiet, and environment-friendly. However, they could result in being costlier than a car that runs on petrol. If compared based on long-term usage, these vehicles may prove to be less costly.
Hybrid Plug-in Electric Cars
These vehicles are driven by electricity as well as petrol. How much could the car be driven on the electric system is decided by the battery’s capacity? The advantage of hybrid vehicles is that they could be driven on the fuel itself if there is no point available to charge the car. The flip side suggests that since the vehicle has two modes in them, the cost to maintain them is extremely high. In addition to this, once the battery of the vehicle discharges, the environmental and financial advantages of the car is lost till they are charged again.
Second-hand cars might be available in both car categories. It is important to keep in mind the degradation of the battery that tends to occur over some time. It would also require you to charge the battery more times. Many places have pod point home charger to help carry out this activity easily.
Amongst the numerous benefits of electric cars over traditional diesel or petrol ones, a few are listed below:
More cost-effective to run
The electricity charge needed to energise an electric car is less than 40% of the charge to fill petrol in the same vehicle type for a similar distance being driven. The charge would be much low if the EV is charged at a free-of-cost charging station or a solar photovoltaic powered system.
More economical to maintain
In the case of a battery-operated electric car, it has fewer parts moving compared to a diesel or petrol vehicle. Servicing these cars is comparatively easy, not recurrent, and less costly than a diesel or petrol car when seen from an overall perspective. These batteries reduce their efficacy over time. Hence, making it important to have them replaced within the timeframe mentioned by the vehicle manufacturer.
In the case of hybrid cars, the engine requires servicing, thus making their cost of maintenance higher than the battery-operated EVs.
Less costly to get registered
Some countries have discounts that are applicable for buying these electric cars, along with additional discounts on getting them registered.
Environment-friendly
- Reduces pollution: EVs help in lowering the dangerous pollution caused in the air from emissions of exhaust. These cars have no emission exhausts but generate a certain amount of emissions of greenhouse gases post getting charged from electricity systems.
- Energy that is renewable: In case you have a solar photovoltaic system empanelled at home, the emission of greenhouse gases could be further reduced. Green power promotes utilising energy from renewable sources.
Good for health
Once the emission of the harmful exhaust is reduced, the health is automatically benefitted from the same. The quality of air improves, causing no problems in health. These cars also cause minimal noise pollution as they produce less sound as compared to diesel or petrol vehicles.
Promotes security of energy
These cars could aid the security of energy generated from liquid fuel in many countries that are otherwise dependent on the import of petroleum. This reduces dependency on oil from foreign countries saving a significant amount of cost.
Enables better network
If the electric car charger installations and systems are effectively managed, it will create a sufficient amount of network over 24 hours. This would eventually enable:
- improved utilisation of the network generated by electricity
- enable car owners to eliminate charging at increased rates and periods
- enable the electricity department to function efficiently
- assist combining of large and small scale systems of energy that are renewable to the electricity system