when electric cars take over and oil starts decreasing whatproblems that will cause and its solutions

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What Would Happen When the Oil Industry Is Taken over by Electric Cars?
The automobiles industry has seen a massive transformation and expansion over the past years. With the ever-increasing demand for transportation means, the demand for automobiles has been on the rise. This has resulted in the increased production and consumption of gasoline in the world which largely contributes to environmental pollution. The process of the production of automobiles leads to massive carbon footprints. Cars, specifically, amount to close to one-third of air pollution in the world contributed by different activities ranging from the production of gasoline to the emissions from the cars themselves. This had led to the call for the development of alternatively powered cars and hence the emergence of electronic cars. Compared to the conventional cars, electronic cars provide an efficient and cleaner mode of transport. Although they still account for a small percentage of the total car sales, the rise of electronic cars has shown much potential to take over the automobiles industry. Although there are many benefits attributed to the use of electronic cars, there are also long-term problems that would be imposed by the use of these vehicles (Vaughan 2).
One of the major problems associated with the increased use of electronic cars would be pollution. Despite the main goal of their introduction being the reduction of the air pollution from fossil fuels, electronic cars may not be that clean.

The process of mining and disposal of the raw materials used in electronic cars has raised an alarming environmental footprint. The car batteries used in electronic cars are majorly made from lithium. As electronic cars take over from the oil industry, the demand for lithium-ion batteries will increase, also increasing the need for the extraction of lithium. Thus, new mining companies would start the extraction of lithium. The process of lithium extraction, as well as the lack of a proper plan for the recycling of lithium-ion batteries, poses a threat to the environment. Also, the production of electricity, upon which these cars are reliant, depends on non-renewable sources. Thus, there is a need to obtain green energy for use by electronic cars in order to eradicate the effects on the environment (Poullikkas 1280).
The use of hydropower and solar power in charging electronic cars could be a viable solution in reducing environmental effects posed by the increased use of electric cars. The environmental impact of mining the lithium-ion battery raw material could be offset through the use of renewable sources of energy by the mining companies that are responsible for supplying these materials. There is also a need for a process of recycling the electronic car batteries. The expansion of the use of electric cars would increase the rate of disposal of the lithium-ion batteries, hence the need for recycling measures. This would not only reduce the environmental impact from the discarded batteries but would also address the issues related to the availability of lithium which is a finite mineral (Nordelöf 1868).
A very common limitation of electronic cars is that they have a short driving range and speed. In most of these cars, the driving range is limited to between 100 and 150 miles. Beyond this driving range, the battery of the car would need to be recharged. This would mean that unless the operational capabilities regarding holding the charge are enhanced, electronic cars would not be suitable for long distances. They are also associated with long charging hours. Hence, when traveling for long distances, one would need to endure the discomfort of having to stop over a charging point. A point of concern about the nature of the electronic cars has been whether they are suitable for the remote areas. With the conventional gasoline cars, the problem of cruising in remote areas has not been a major issue of concern as the driving range for these cars is not limited. The minimal fuel concerns have been addressed by having large fuel tanks. For the electronic cars, the access by the car to remote areas is highly limited by the range of a single charge. These problems thus pose questions on whether electronic cars can completely replace conventional cars (Newman et al. 313).
In order to address the problems of the limited driving range for the electronic cars, if at all electronic cars were to take over the oil industry, more improvements are needed in the cars’ driving range for a single charge. Thorough improvements are also need for these cars to be able to access poor terrains and places with unpredictable weather. The future efficiency of the electronic cars would largely be determined on the basis of the range of a single charge of the car. A comfortable range needs to be beyond the 150 miles’ limit of most of the current electronic cars. This would also enhance the ability of these cars to endure places with unfriendly climates or bad terrain. It would also enhance movements over long distances as the chances of stopovers at charging stations would be minimized. Without these improvements on electronic cars, it would be unlikely that electronic cars would completely displace the conventional gasoline cars. The improvements should also take into consideration the cost incurred. Efforts to enhance the abilities of the car to cruise over vast distances should not make the car extremely expensive. It should rather be aimed at increasing the operational capabilities of the car (Lundström 4).
Electronic cars’ charging is another problem that individuals would have to face if these cars take over from the oil industry. While the car can be conveniently charged at one’s home or working place, the problem arises when one decides to drive past the car’s single-charge driving range. This raises the need to visit a public charging station to power up. It can be highly distressing, especially due to the large charging time that a car needs to fully get charged. It is estimated that a car would take almost three hours to get fully charged. With the increase in the number of electronic cars and the imminent possibility of taking over the market share in the automobiles industry, this would mean that the public charging stations would face large congestions. This can be time-consuming and unpleasant for drivers. To address the problem associated with electronic car charging, there is a need to ensure that charging stations are adequate and have the appropriate proximity to the roads. Inductive charging could also be a solution to the charging problems in public charging stations. This involves charging the car within close range but without having to plug in. It would enhance reliability of the charging stations. The charging time should also be shortened to less than 30 minutes (Raslavičius 787).
Another problem with electronic cars is the issue of complicated shipping requirements associated to manufacturing of these cars which may explain the relatively high cost of the cars. The process of building these cars involves manufacturing on multiple continents in the sense that some of the parts go through long shipping chains and back to the factory. For example, the metals used in manufacturing the electronic car batteries have to be transported from far distances to the manufacturing factories. This is contrary to most of the conventional cars whose parts are sourced from distances close to the manufacturing factories. The high cost of the raw materials for making the electronic car batteries coupled with the costs of the long shipping chains mean that the cost of the electronic cars will remain high when these cars take over from the oil industry. The solution to this problem would be the automakers to open fully equipped facilities in different continents and countries in order to reduce the shipping charges and thus reduce the costs of the vehicles. This would enable automakers of the electronic cars to effective cater for the needs of the different markets on different countries. The ultimate impact of this would be to reduce the cost of the electronic cars to the benefit of the consumers (Knez et al. 55).
In conclusion, although electronic cars reduce the direct carbon emissions to the environment, massive improvements in the production of energy and batteries used in these cars are needed in order to make them completely environmentally conducive. If these cars were to take over the market share of the automobiles industry, improvements are still required on the cars’ driving ranges for single charges and the charging times as well as the accessibility and efficiency in public charging stations.
Works Cited
Knez, Matjaz, Borut Jereb, and Matevz Obrecht. “Factors influencing the purchasing decisions of low emission cars: a study of Slovenia.” Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment 30 (2014): 53-61.
Lundström, Anders. “Differentiated driving range: exploring a solution to the problems with the guess-o-meter in electric cars.” Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Automotive User Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applications. ACM, 2014.
Newman, Daniel, et al. “Urban, sub-urban or rural: where is the best place for electric vehicles?” International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management 14.3-4 (2014): 306-323.
Nordelöf, Anders, et al. “Environmental impacts of hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and battery electric vehicles—what can we learn from life cycle assessment?” The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 19.11 (2014): 1866-1890.
Poullikkas, Andreas. “Sustainable options for electric vehicle technologies.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 41 (2015): 1277-1287.
Raslavičius, Laurencas, et al. “Electric vehicles challenges and opportunities: Lithuanian review.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 42 (2015): 786-800.
Vaughan, Adam. “All Volvo cars to be electric or hybrid from 2019.” The Guardian 5 (2017).