Electric vehicle Essay Example for Free

Electric vehicle Essay 1. Summarize the content of this movie. Keep it to the space below, please. 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 joined the auto industries to go against the ZEV mandate. Hydrogen fuel cars were introduced in the film as well. The problems with hydrogen fuel cars were high cost and limits on driving distance range. People who were trying to save the EV1s from being crushed got arrested from police officers. People who were being interviewed in the film think that we will be entering a clean world with bright future with electric cars. An example is that electric cars are working just fine in Japan. 2. Would you buy an electric car? Why or why not? As a civil engineering major student, I’m concerned about the environment that we’re living in. I would definitely buy an electric car. I’m not only doing this for my son or daughter in the future but for every single person on earth. And I believe it is everybody’s responsibility to protect the earth. 3. Answer on the back of this sheet. Search for an electric car in production today. Who makes it? How much does it cost? Does it use any fuel? What is the battery life? How long does it take to charge? Would you buy one? Why or why not? Find out as much about it as you can. Be VERY thorough. Nissan Leaf manufactured by Nissan. Nissan Leaf has a starting price of $27,700. It doesnt not use fuel but only electricity. It takes around 7 hours for a full charge on Nissan Leaf. This is someone I would not be interest buying because it is too small of a car. I would get an electric car but bigger size.