Benefits of Electric Vehicles Essay Example for Free

Benefits of Electric Vehicles Essay 1: Problem Statement The market for plug in vehicles is growing more competitive since variety of manufacturers are increasingly offering plug in hybrid and battery electrical vehicle. However, the initially adopted two key drivers, lower operating cost and zero emission driving, are not proving to be as effective as expected. The market for Electrical Vehicle is still struggling to expand towards more mass-market. The purpose of this research is to acquire knowledge and get a better understanding of the cost- benefit of plug in electrical vehicles as well as its’ impact on environmental and financial policies. Questions!! What are the cost and benefits of Electric Vehicles? What is the environmental impact of electric vehicles? How can environmental and financial policies influence on consumer support? 2: Popular sources [IF USED—THESE DON’T COUNT TOWARD THE FIVE SOURCE REQUIREMENT] Write a brief summary of the key information found from your bridge sources and popular source phase of the research. Source cited Give the key points and issue that have broadened you understanding into the problem you are researching 1. Green vehicle. http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Electric_vehicle An electric vehicle is any motor vehicle that uses one or more electric motors or traction motors as a driving force. There are three main types of electric vehicle exist, those that are directly powered from an external power station, those that are powered by stored electricity originally from an external power source, and those that are powered by an on-board electrical generator, such as an internal combustion engine (a hybrid electric vehicle) or a hydrogen fuel cell. These vehicles are environment friendly as they release almost no air pollutants at the place where they are operated. They also have less noise pollution than an internal combustion engine vehicle. EV gives the greater degree of energy resilience as electricity is a form of energy that remains within the region where it produced. 2. Green Cars and Todays Economy. http://www. consumerenergyreport. com/green-cars-and-todays-economy/ According to this article, plug-in hybrid electrical help the economy and personal expenses can determine which green car to buy. The article specifies the pros and cons of having an electric vehicle. Among the advantages are low insurance cost, low gas cost, job creation and better air quality. The disadvantages include maintenance, initial cost and battery life. 3. Negative Environmental Impacts of Hybrid Vehicles. http://greenliving. lovetoknow. com/Hybrid_Vehicles_Negative_Environmental_Impact This article describes the negative environmental impact Hybrid vehicles. It defines different kinds of hybrids. It questions the source of electrical power for hybrids. According to the article hybrid cars are not emission free. The batteries contain nickel in them and are considered toxic. Two other negative aspects that are covered include the negative impact of high voltage wiring and the initial cost associated with the green Car. 3: Scholarly sources List of sources broken down by discipline: Source cited Research process Qualitative/quantitative Framing or norm/post/critical Key insights/theories/points How does this understanding conflict with any other insight/theory or concur 1. Ecology a) R. Socolow, V. Thomas (2000). The Industrial Ecology of lead and electrical vehicle. Journal of Industrial Ecology. Volume 1, issue 1, Pages 13-36, January 2000 b) Title, author? Journal of Environmental Planning Management; Jan 2009, Vol. 52 Issue 1, P79-96. According to this paper, a common risk analysis of electric vehicles is misguided, because it treats lead batteries and lead additives in gasoline on the same footing and implies that the lead battery should be abandoned. The authors stated that â€Å"The use of lead additives in gasoline is a dissipative use where emissions cannot be confined: The goal of management should be and has been to phase out this use. The use of lead in batteries is a recyclable use, because the lead remains confined during cycles of discharge and recharge. † Clean recycling of the lead batteries should be the goal.. A management system closely approaching clean recycling should be achievable. The lead battery has the potential to become a hazardous product managed in the world. The tools of industrial ecology are helpful in identifying the key criteria that an ideal lead-battery recycling system must meet maximal recovery of batteries after use, minimal export of used batteries to countries where environmental controls are weak, minimal impact on the health of communities near lead-processing facilities, and maximal worker protection from lead exposure in these facilities. This research paper explores quantitatively Californians interest in hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) based on a statewide phone survey conducted in July 2004 by the Public Policy Institute of California. The paper develops factors that summarize beliefs about energy and the environment using principal component analysis. This study result concludes that the Californians concerned about the environment, energy efficiency, global warming and recent increases in the price of gasoline state a higher interest in hybrids. Another important reason for considering hybrid electric vehicles, however, is the possibility of using high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes while driving alone, especially for people with potentially long commutes to work. The findings also suggest that beliefs about energy and the environment should be included in vehicle type choice models. First article is emphasizing on the negative impact that electric vehicle has on the environment whereas the latter one highlights on the eco-friendliness and the popularity of the EVs. Source cited Research process Qualitative/quantitative Framing or norm/post/critical Key insights/theories/points How does this understanding conflict with any other insight/theory or concur 2. Technology. c) Systems for hybrid cars. Otmar Bitsche et. al. Journal of power sources 127 (2004) 8-15. d) The state of the art of electric, hybrid, and fuel cell vehicles. C. C. Chan. Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol 95, No 4, April 2007. The Otmar article gives us a detailed understanding of what plug-in hybrid electrical are and how their drive trains offer a wide range of benefits such as multifaceted performance improvements, reduced emissions and reduced fuel consumption compared to the internal combustion engine. It demonstrates how important the battery is in different hybrid cars for the right specific automotive application. It describes the cost and safety aspects in terms of battery type and performance of such vehicles. Competition alongside with legislation is pushing hybrid technology towards the future. The paper describes different types of hybrid vehicles and their advantages. It should therefore be considered to have a positive perspective to the reader. However one weakness to the article is that is is relatively technical and may not be appeasing to the general reader in order to understand hybrid cars in a nutshell. Also, the kind of hybrid that would be considered the best in terms of performance is not mentioned. The most significant aspect of the article is it describes all the different modes of hybrid operation and how regenerative braking affects the performance of the battery hence the author develops an important concept. The author approaches the subject matter through a unique method in which he describes stop-start hybrids followed by mild hybrids and full hybrids before focusing on purely electrical cars. The author argues while safety comes first, it is the cost that determines the most important factor to buying a hybrid. In contrast, the Chan paper describes the different state of the art hybrid vehicles in particular. These include Toyota Prius, Honda Civic, Ford Escape, Saturn vue, ISE transient buses and Honda FCX. Chan describes a detailed history of Evs, HEVs and FCVs which the Otmar paper tends to lack. The article describes the differences among Electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles and points out the advantages and disadvantages of each. The paper describes how a better understanding of control theory is essential for the future development of these vehicles. This article is useful in order to choose the right green car for ones individual needs. It describes the hybrid system car by car and is therefore very useful for understanding what is available in the auto market and what to expect from each individual model. The paper is more geared towards the general reader and offers a positive perspective. The most significant aspect of the article is that it is focused on individual car model. It is also in agreement with other sources on hybrid vehicles. The author makes a informative comparison in the form of a table where he compare and contrasts battery electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles and fuel cell electric vehicles in terms of propulsion, energy system, energy source and infrastructure, characteristics and major issues. These factors may arise to a debate on which type of green car is superior in overall performance. Source cited Research process Qualitative/quantitative Framing or norm/post/critical Key insights/theories/points. How does this understanding conflict with any other insight/theory or concur Economics. e) Fredrik Carlsson (2003) Costs and Benefits of electric Vehicles. A 2010 perspective. . Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, volume 37, part 1, January 2003, pp. 1-28. f) Consumer support for environmental policies: An application to purchases of plug-in hybrid electrical vehicle. Alex Coad et. al. Ecological Economics 68 (2009), 2078-2086. The Fredrick paper describes a social cost-benefit analysis with respect to the increase in electric vehicle number within the Swedish transport sector by the year 2010. According to the paper electric cars are socially unprofitable in spite of having a lower life cycle cost compared to their gasoline counterparts. This is due to government subsidies on electric cars which outweigh the benefits related to low fuel consumption. Despite the environmental advantages, electric vehicles are not very common and different means of financially supporting them is often subject to debate. The paper uses a cost benefit model to determine consumer welfare or utility and can be looked upon as having a normative perspective. The weakness of the paper is that it assumes too many assumptions which is not always realistic. It is a technical paper and therefore the mathematical section is not suitable for the general public. The most significant aspect of this research is to answer the question as to whether governments should subsidize electric vehicles and the conclusion is negative. In his conclusion the author states that due to too many uncertainties the case for public subsidies becomes uncertain. In contrast, the Alex paper describes how consumer motivation can be used to encourage the adoption of cleaner technologies. According to the author intrinsic motivation such as energy labels for cars and extrinsic motivation such as subsidies or fines can be used to encourage the adoption of cleaner technologies. The paper analyzes a survey data set of Swiss households. The results of this survey are of particular interest to policy makers who are keen on guiding consumers towards cleaner technology. This paper gives us a better understanding of intrinsic motivation which is the kind of motivation that comes from within ourselves and not from an outside source that rewards money or grades. Extrinsic motivation is guided by some type of external subject or reward. The paper analyzes to what extent consumers are willing to support public policies in order to promote energy efficient cars. The nature of the article is of normative perspective. The weakness of the article is that the survey was conducted on 1500 Swiss households. Nothing about the age or nature of these households are mentioned in the serve. The most significant aspect of the paper is that it gives one a better understanding of different motivation to get a job done. Although both these papers discuss about the economic perspective of plug-in hybrid electrical, they do so in very different way. While the former article is a cost benefit description of electric vehicles by utilizing an economic model, the latter can be considered as an article that describes the motivation that drives consumer support towards the purchase of a green car. 4: Disciplinary Overlapping: In all sources except for the Cost and benefits article it is mentioned that plug-in hybrid electrical are more cost effective than their gasoline counterpart. However, Fredrik Carlsson in his article mentions that electrical vehicles are socially unprofitable in spite of having a lower private life cycle cost and external cost compared to petrol cars. All six articles do however agree that plug-in hybrid electrical are more fuel efficient and environmentally friendlier than gasoline cars. give us a better understanding on what plug-in hybrid electrical are like and how they have evolved with time. mentions the different systems in hybrid vehicles while describes specific models helping us to choose which green car to buy. The cost benefits of buying a green car is discussed in, however, the source is based on many assumptions and the paper itself is very technical. focuses on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation that leads to support of environmental policies. The articles in general give us a better understanding of the problem statement. However one aspect that was overlooked by all the sources involves the environmental effect of different kind of battery systems, their waste and disposal. Category /Element Criteria Range: (Na)(No)(A)(M) Purposefulness (20) identifies a clear research problem and explains it; Readings chosen are relevant to the problem as defined (10-12),(13-15), (16-18),(19-20) 15 Grounding (40) identifies and adequately summarizes the constituent elements of each source: insights, theories or concepts, methodologies, sources of evidence; connects each source to a part of the problem that it helps illuminate (10-12),(13-15), (16-18),(19-20) 0 The selection of sources gives appropriate â€Å"coverage† of the problem (10-12),(13-15), (16-18),(19-20) 17 Critical Awareness (20). Student recognizes and explains how the different elements of each source affect the findings—methods, theories, concepts, assumptions; Student identifies meaningful conflicts or commonalities among different sources (10-12),(13-15), (16-18),(19-20) 17 Integration (20) Student makes intelligent comparisons between insights, theories, methods or data across disciplinary lines to support an improved understanding or cognitive advancement; explains how different ideas could be applied to an improved understanding (10-12),(13-15), (16-18),(19-20) 16 Total: 65.