Fuel efficient and eco-friendly vehicles are among the recent consumer trends within the automobile industry. The risk of new carmakers entering the marketplace is relatively low because of the high economic and political barriers that exist in this industry. A recent example of a company who has succeeded in entering the marketplace with a new product is Tesla Motors. The car company is still in its infancy; however, they have designed and delivered several all-electric vehicles to the marketplace using a platform they created.…
In this article “Why the Gasoline Engine Isn’t Going Away Any Time Soon,” Joseph B. White states that alternative energy cars could be the start of a revolution in the automaker world, however, complications interfere with the outcome. Although the author suggests different ideas on alternative vehicles, he contradicts himself numerous times while also lacking credibility of any sources.…
The U.S. electric passenger car industry in 2011 was described as being in its infancy, because it is still a new concept to buyers. However there are signs of growth from 2011-2015. Buyers do not consider the car because of price, travel range and vehicle size, along with other secondary concerns.…
are considering hybrids or electric powered cars for their next car purchase. However, that is not…
By the end of Chris Paine's lively and informative documentary, the idea doesn't seem quite so strange. As narrator Martin Sheen notes, "They were quiet and fast, produced no exhaust and ran without gasoline." Paine proceeds to show how this unique vehicle came into being and why General Motors ended up reclaiming its once-prized creation less than a decade later. He begins 100 years ago with the original electric car. By the 1920s, the internal-combustion engine had rendered it obsolete. By the 1980s, however, car companies started exploring alternative energy sources, like solar power.…
The U.S. electric passenger car industry in 2011 was described as being in its infancy, because it is still a new concept to buyers. However there are signs of growth from 2011-2015. Buyers do not consider the car because of price, travel range and vehicle size, along with other secondary concerns.…
In 2000, tragedy struck as all EV-1’s were recalled. In 2003, California’s zero emissions vehicle mandate was killed and General Motors officially closed down the entire EV-1 project despite the long waiting lists and positive feedback from EV-1 drivers. This terrible crime did not go unnoticed by the public. Consumers were outraged by the recalling of EV-1’s. They wanted to know why someone would get rid of a car that would help out the environment and would make things better for the future. Someone is to blame for killing the electric car, but who? Was it the big oil companies and their fear of losing money? Could it be the battery technology in the EV-1’s that was faulty? Maybe, it was the CARB (California Resources Board) who did not want to support. Chris Pine, the director of, “Who killed the Electric car?” Says that all these factors are to blame.…
Flannery argues that “the chief barrier to uptake” of electric sales is their price, giving the example of a petrol-powered car being “less than half” the cost of a “typical electric car”. This encourages the reader to agree that the benefits of electric cars outweigh the initial investment, especially for future generations. The author’s focus on consumer costs continues later in the article, where she quotes George Papandakis, head of research at Broadbank School of Science and Development. Papandakis is quoted as saying that electric cars “will be…
While it may seem that electric cars are a new fad of the twenty-first century, this is not the case. Electric cars have been around since roughly the 1890s, and in fact they were the dominant motorized vehicle in the market until about 1929 [1, p. 17]. This was due mostly to high gas prices during war and the fact that back then having a range of 18 miles was more than enough to meet the needs of most people. But then as cities grew and gasoline powered cars became cheaper and easier to use, the electric car was slowly phased out, until about the 1990s. Then began the renewed interest in air quality and in the future of the electric car [1, p. 17]. In 1990 the Clean Air Act was passed, and now the gas guzzling and air fouling cars that had become so prominent began to have regulations forced down on them to improve their efficiency and to make them cleaner [2, p. 642]. This Clean Air Act coupled with the Energy Act of 1992 encouraged research into the electric car and reenergized the developments of environmentally friendly cars [1, p.17]. All of that research and dedication finally cumulated in the release of the Toyota Prius on the American market in 2000, and from that moment, it has become a cultural icon, and a topic for hot debate [3]. The main topic of the debate is at the very foundation of the Prius: whether or not the Prius is truly ‘green’.…
Electric car was around in 1960s. During the energy crisis in 1970s and 1980s electric cars started disappearing. In 1990s first electric car EV1 from a company named General Motors became popular in California simply because it was more environmental-friendly while it was affordable. A Zero-emissions vehicle mandate require companies to offer electric cars if they wanted to continue selling gasoline vehicles. The oil industries were fighting against the electric cars. Less people wanted to use it in that they wanted to pay less for electric cars which were limited. California dropped the mandate after getting sued by auto-makers. Drivers protested to try to save electric cars. There was almost no demand for GM’s electric cars. In a survey, 4000 said they would drive an electric car but at the end it narrowed down to only 50. GM started taking back EV1s from the drivers to be crushed and recycled. The last consumer EV1 was given up by its driver in 2004. Someone put her last effort to put EV1 back to the road; within 48 hours, 80 people signed up to get an EV1 while GM only had 72 cars. There were several suspects about the situation with GM. GM stated that there was no demand in the market for those electric cars, but several interviews with consumers showed that people wanted those electric cars. Another suspect was batteries. The batteries that EV1s had at the time were acid batteries with 60 miles of range. Average driving distance of Americans was less than 30 miles per day which meant EV1s would actually satisfy consumers. The EV1s made later which was the second generation came with better batteries that lasted around 100 miles. Oil companies were financing campaigns to stop the utility efforts for building public charging stations. President George W. Bush…
This film is targeted towards GM shareholders, those who are interested in electric vehicles, or have questions or concerns about global warming, dependence on foreign oil, air pollution or the environment, so Paine primarily focuses on the fate of General Motors’ EV1 electric car. The EV1’s were introduced to the California market in 1996 in response to California’s Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) legislation. California was in a pollution crisis. The amount of smog in the air threatened public health. The California Air and Resource Board (CARB) targeted the source of the problem, auto exhaust. The ZEV legislation required two percent of vehicles sold in California to be emissions free by 1998 and ten percent of the cars sold in California to be emissions free by 2003. With this new legislation, the reemergence of the electric car, a vehicle that was once popular in the thirties, began. Before this legislation General Motors had previewed an electric car, the Impact. Because it had flaws such as a low maximum speed, and low mileage per charge, it wasn’t popular. In 1996, General Motors introduced the Impact…
Changes are being made in the designs of automobiles. These changes will certainly take time, considering it has been over a century for the gasoline combustion engine to become what it is today. In the United States, car companies have joined forces to develop newer cleaner technologies. The research on alternate fuel sources for cars began long ago, but it was not until 1999 that the first hybrid electric powered vehicle was sold. This car was manufactured by automaker Honda, and was called the Insight. An electric hybrid vehicle employs the operation of a small engine to assist a typically battery powered electric system. The electric motor propels the front wheels at low speeds, and then at higher speeds, the standard internal combustion engine takes over. When the engine is running, it automatically charges the batteries used for the electric motor…
In 1996, electric cars began to appear on roads all over California. They were quiet and fast, produced no exhaust and ran without gasoline........... Ten years later, these futuristic cars were almost completely gone."…
Arthur Miller is recognized as an important and influential playwright, not to mention essayist and novelist. Although he has had plenty of luck in his writing career, his fame is the product of his ingenious ability to control what he wants his readers to picture or feel. As one of his critics states, "Miller writes ingeniously, conveying the message that if the proper study of mankind is man, man's inescapable problem is himself (Brown, 306).'" Miller accurately puts into words what every person thinks, feels, or worries about, but often has trouble expressing. By the use of symbolism, Arthur Miller portrays Willy's (along with the other Lowmans') problems with family life, the society, and himself in Death of a Salesman.…
"Not only do electric vehicles produce just as much carbon in their overall cycle as internal-combustion engines, the need to replace the batteries actually makes them less green than current technology." If we want a cleaner way to get around, "the answer is natural gas, not electric…