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Evan Poplin

ENG 1201

Professor Johnson

July 11, 2021

What it better environmentally and financially to invest in, an electric powered car or a gas car?

Just based off common facts many people believe that electric cars are better for the

environment because they do not need gas to run which means that they do not pollute the air

while running. Also, the average maintenance is much less on these cars since it is just electricity

and you do not have to pay for gas [ CITATION Pen211 \l 1033 ]. But are these commonly known

ideas true?

To start off for electronic cars to be produced there must be large mines to get the

materials required to make the cars. Some of these materials are aluminum, carbon, copper, and

cobalt[ CITATION Fie171 \l 1033 ]. The mining process is harmful to the environment and so is the

manufacturing process used to make the metals into the cars. Also, during the building process

for electric cars, it takes twice as much energy to produce 1 electric car than it does to make a

petrol or diesel car[ CITATION Fie171 \l 1033 ].

Electric cars can cause danger to the environment during the disposal process of their

batteries. The average battery can last about 100 thousand miles, but it can last longer when it is

properly maintained [ CITATION Hug21 \l 1033 ]. If the battery is improperly maintained though it

can cause the entire car and battery to be disposed of which cause more pollution as a result. The

chemicals inside the batteries of electric cars can pollute the surrounding areas if they are

damaged in any ways. Also, if there is a puncture in the batteries, they can cause chemical fires

from the reacting chemicals[ CITATION Hug21 \l 1033 ]. Most electric car batteries can be recycled,
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but most recycling companies are not able to do so because the batteries are so big, and they do

not have the required machinery to recycle them. Also, most car producers use different

processes when making the batteries making it so the recycling companies would have to do it by

hand[ CITATION Hug21 \l 1033 ].

In contrast, electric cars are more environmentally friendly over time because they have

no emissions when on the road which slowly makes up for the more intensive manufacturing

process. Also, the electric cars have a higher retail price than normal gas-powered cars but, in the

end, their total costs are around the same because you do not have to buy the gas for electric cars[

CITATION Pen211 \l 1033 ]. The costs to fill up the average tanks for cars vary but in June 2019 it

was around $40 to fill up the average tank. The average cost to completely recharge and electric

car at the same time was about $7[ CITATION Hea201 \l 1033 ]. This shows just how much cheaper

the maintenance of electric cars is than gas-powered cars.

In Scotland research has been done to determine that if the petrol vehicles would be

replaced by electric vehicles there would be both pros and cons. If this were to happen the total

demand for energy would go up would directly correlate too more carbon dioxide emissions

form the energy producing things like power plants. This would be counteracted by the

significant drop in emissions for the roadways when there are entirely electric vehicles[ CITATION

Mil211 \l 1033 ]. A negative would be that the electric cars would have to use energy from their

batteries in the winter to heat them which causes the total range to be reduced.

Electric cars were not originally invented in the 21st century. They were originally a

popular type of car in the early 1900s. These cars were expensive and hard to recharge so gas-

powered cars overtook them in popularity (Department of Energy, 2014).

Electric cars and gas cars both cost money to refuel/recharge, but gas cars are much

more expensive. The average price for gas was around $2.50 more expensive than the average

cost for energy to refuel electric cars (Kurczewski, 2021).

Greenhouse gasses are emitted from all types of sources, but one that can be reduced is

cars. Regular gas cars produce around 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year while driving.

This is compared to the 0 tons that are produced by electric cars when driving (EPA, 2018).

The batteries of electric cars are one of the reasons why people are against them. This

is because there is not a good way to recycle the metals now. A counter to this is that even

when the batteries are not good for cars does not mean that they are bad for other uses. They

can be reused as extra energy storage for anything that could use energy (IER, 2019).

Hydrogen fuel cell cars are different types of electric cars that are also more

environmentally friendly than gas cars. This is because they run off hydrogen and electricity

instead of gas. These cars are more fuel efficient than electric cars and gas cars, but there are

not many refueling stations around the world and, they are very expensive (BMW, 2020).

Electric cars allow for people to save lots of money when they are taken care of and

used compared to gas-powered cars. There is less maintenance because there are fewer

moving parts in electric cars, and they do not require oil changes (Juice Blog, 2019).

Compared to gas cars, electric cars are safer in the event of a crash, this is because

they are less likely to catch on fire because of the extra metal in between certain areas of the

car. Also, there are liquid cooling technologies that make it so the battery is unable to

overheat and catch fire (Mandal, 2019).

Regenerative braking is a technique that electric cars use to keep their brake pads for

longer. During the braking process the engine switches direction and turn the thermal energy

created from braking into energy and recharges the battery of the electric car. This help keep

the battery charged for longer and reduces the loss of energy (Wardlaw, 2020).

Lastly, just because the batteries of electric vehicles do not hold the same amount of

charge as they used to does not mean that they need to be thrown away. The batteries are still

able to hold charge just not the same amount. These can now be used to store energy in case of

emergencies or when it is needed.

In conclusion electric cars would be the better car to invest in. This is because they

significantly reduce the CO2 emissions from cars and the maintenance is much cheaper in the

long run. Furthermore, there could be new ways developed to help increase the amount of

electric car batteries that are recycled. This would reduce the chance for waterways and the

environment to get polluted by chemicals. There are still more ways that companies are trying to

help make the disposal of electric cars safer for the environment.
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Works Cited

BMW. Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars: Everything You Need to Know. 22 September 2020.

<https://www.bmw.com/en/innovation/how-hydrogen-fuel-cell-cars-work.html>.

Department of Energy. The History of the Electric Car. 15 September 2014.

<https://www.energy.gov/articles/history-electric-car>.

EPA. Greenhouse Gas Emissions from a Typical Passenger Vehicle. March 2018.

<https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/greenhouse-gas-emissions-typical-passenger-

vehicle>.

Field Under News. The truth about the environmental damages from electric cars. 20 10 17.

<https://www.electriciancourses4u.co.uk/blog/environmental-damages-of-electric-

cars/#:~:text=Materials%20used%20in%20electric%20vehicle%20batteries%20are

%20harmful,and%20when%20disposed%2C%20actually%20pose%20an

%20environmental%20hazard.>.

Hearst Autos Research. Electric Cars vs. Gas Cars: Everything You Need to Know. 11 June

2020. <https://www.caranddriver.com/research/a32781943/electric-cars-vs-gas-cars/>.

J, Hugh. Environmental Impact of Electric Car Batteries (Production, Use & Disposal). 5 July

2020. <https://get-green-now.com/environmental-impact-electric-vehicle-

batteries/#:~:text=Here%E2%80%99s%20the%20short%20answer%3A%20Electric

%20vehicles%20are%20powered,and%20contributes%20to%20air%2C%20soil%2C

%20and%20water%20pollution.>.
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IER. The Afterlife of Electric Vehicles: Battery Recycling and Repurposing. 6 May 2019.

<https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/renewable/the-afterlife-of-electric-vehicles-

battery-recycling-and-repurposing/#:~:text=China%2C%20where%20about%20half

%20the%20world%E2%80%99s%20electric%20vehicles,easy%20due%20to%20the

%20sophisticated%20chemic>.

Juice Blog. Why Electric Cars are Better than Gas Cars. 20 March 2019.

<https://evcharging.enelx.com/resources/blog/525-why-drive-ev>.

Kurczeqski, Nick. How Much Does it Cost to Charge an Electric Car. 5 March 2021.

<https://www.kbb.com/car-news/how-much-does-it-cost-to-charge-an-ev/>.

Palmer, Brian. Electric vs. Gas: Is It Cheaper to Drive an EV? 31 July 2020.

<https://www.nrdc.org/stories/electric-vs-gas-it-cheaper-drive-ev>.

Penney, Veronica. "Electric Cars Are Better for the Planet – and Often Your Budget, Too." 15

January 2021. The New York Times.

<https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/15/climate/electric-car-cost.html>.

Soumen, Mandal. Are Electric Vehicles Safe? 14 November 2019.

<https://www.counterpointresearch.com/electric-vehicles-safe/#:~:text=Electric

%20vehicles%20are%20safer%20than%20ICE%20vehicles%20due,Thermal

%20runaway%20can%20occur%20leading%20to%20a%20fire.>.

Wardlaw, Christian. How Regenerative Brakes Work. 22 September 2020.

<https://www.kbb.com/car-advice/how-regenerative-brakes-work/>.