Vijay Kamath 

ENGL 11000

11/10/21 

Electric Vehicles Are Not a Safe Choice 

The perception that most citizens have towards electric vehicles is that they are more economically friendly and better for the environment compared to gas powered vehicles. However, this ideology is flawed as there are multiple factors that contribute to how beneficial a product is compared to another. As consumers, we want to get the best deal for a product. Most of the electric vehicles are out of the budget for the average American worker, as well as less accessible to recharge, with a substantially larger number of gas stations compared to car recharging stations. Electric cars rely more heavily on their batteries than gas powered cars do and cause more waste every time they need to be replaced. In addition, Electrical cars do need a large amount of power to operate, and their sources of electricity production may be more detrimental than the fossil fuels used for gas powered vehicles. With these points stated, electric vehicles are currently less economically friendly, causing more physical pollution, and use a more harmful source of power compared to gas powered vehicles. 

One of the most important aspects of a vehicle to a consumer is the price. The majority of the citizens who commute to work use a car as a mode of transportation. They want an affordable vehicle that meets their everyday needs. Presently, the average cost of electric vehicles is substantially higher than gas powered vehicles. In the journal article by Brian Palmer, “Electric s. Gas: Is It Cheaper to Drive Gas”, he states, “The average sticker price on an electric car is $19,000 higher than an average gasoline-powered vehicle” (Palmer 1). The article goes to say, “California’s Clean Cars 4 All program, for instance, helps low-income people living in communities with poor air quality turn in their old gas guzzlers for a stipend of up to $9,500 toward the purchase of an electric or hybrid car,…“(Palmer 4). Due to electric vehicles being a recent innovation, the starting market value is high. Gas powered vehicles have been around for such a long extent that it is affordable for almost any economic status.  

It will take many decades for electric vehicles to reach the level of affordability that gas powered vehicles are currently at. Very few people out of the population are even willing to put down that large sum of money, so there are initiatives created to help fund the change for electric vehicles. Even with the private funding to help create a larger market for electric vehicles, consumers still must pay thousands of dollars more out of pocket compared to buying a gas-powered vehicle. The recent events of the pandemic have left many individuals and families with decreased income and are still trying to recover financially, and many are in no condition to spend money on an electric vehicle when they can only afford the price of a gas-powered vehicle. 

A main reason for the innovation of electric vehicles is to decrease the carbon emissions and the greenhouse gases that enter the environment. Even though there is evidence to show that electric vehicles do decrease carbon emissions, there is also evidence to show that electric vehicles are creating their own pollutants on the environment. In the article by Stephen P. Holland, “Are There Environmental Benefits from Driving Electric Vehicles? The Importance of Local Factors”, he states how there is a significant increase of crop production as there is no major pollution coming from vehicles themselves, however there is a new type of emission that radiates from the electric vehicles. After calculating CO₂, SO₂, heat and photonic charges that are byproducts of the electric vehicles’ battery, there is a new form of pollution that scientists may need to look out for, as it directly being absorb by the soil. The author then goes on to state that even though these emissions are miniscule compared to the carbon emissions and greenhouse gases, there still is a way that energy from cars are being dispersed out to the environment and causing damage (Holland 3708). Since electric vehicles rely heavily on a large battery, that battery needs to be replaced more frequently than a gas-powered car’s battery.  

This means that there is more physical pollution created by the electric vehicles as there damaged or no functioning batteries are added to landfills and causing damage to the land and the air when toxic waste builds up on the landfills. The accumulation of toxic waste in the form of car batteries is another form of pollution that leads to denaturing of the land that it presides on, as well as the pollution of the byproducts are release air in the vicinity of the land fill. With the addition of chemical substances that do not provide nutrition to the soil such as SO₂, many environments essential for agriculture and crop cultivation will begin to suffer and hinder the produce industry. There needs to be more upgrading and ingenuity to the technology of electric vehicles since there are still more ways pollution is occurring with technology that is supposed to prevent it. 

The final aspect that needs to be considered is the source from which the electric vehicles derive power from. Electricity that is supplied in areas of population is generated and distributed through large power plants. Switching from burning gasoline to creating more nuclear energy is like switching from one toxic power source to another. In the article by Hao Cai, “Life-Cycle Greenhouse Gas and Criteria Air Pollutant Emissions of Electric Vehicles in the United States”, the author helps to distinguish that the electrical power that is used in electric cars are also causing emissions and pollution to the environment, and it will only increase as more people start to use electric vehicles. The electric power that flows through out cities and suburbs comes from nuclear power plants and produces nuclear waste into oceans, lands, and even the towns that surround them. There is an accompanying chart which displays chemical emissions such as CH₄ and N₂O that are released from these nuclear power plants (Cai 329). As one would use their electric car charging station in their house, their electric bill may increase slightly, however it still requires a large amount of energy to power a car.  

Due to there being a high demand from the government and electric car companies for citizens to start to use electric vehicles, nuclear power plants will be forced to expand and produce more electrical power, which will result in more nuclear emissions and nuclear waste being exposed to the environments that surround it. Not only does this increase the danger of nature surrounding it, but also the number of workers that are exposed to large amounts of nuclear radiation that exists in and around these power plants. Increasing the amount of nuclear power plants results in the increased radius of nuclear radiation to the town near it and will greatly affect those who are still in development (adolescents) or how those who already have pre-existing conditions. Increasing the production of emissions that should not be inhaled such as CH₄ and N₂O will not only cause complications and even death if they are breathed in excessively. Producing more electric vehicles will only increase these chemical byproducts and increase the risk towards the community that border the nuclear power plants. The very same power plants who have to supply more energy to meet the needs of the needs of more electric vehicle drivers. The big issue of how we generate power for these vehicles is the main issue of how this detrimental cycle begins in the first place. 

Many who oppose gas-powered vehicles in favor of electric vehicles compel the fact that in the future electric cars will be more affordable as more models are bought and sold. The commodity of electric will seem as equal to that of gas-powered vehicles in our present rather than a luxury. In the article by Katie Laufenberg, “Electric Vehicles: Powering the Future”, she states that since electric vehicles have a higher average price, that they are prone to decrease in price as time goes son as the technology becomes more common and accessible (Laufenberg 4). In our present, most of the current consumers who own a tesla or plan to own a tesla live in a household and have access to an outlet in the garage. A discrepancy that can be seen with the major market especially in that of big cities, is that most people live in apartments where they are not able to charge their car with an outlet and may have to drive long distances to charge their car at a charging station.  

The charging stations are also creating a barrier in the market for citizens who must drive long distances and do not have ease of access to a charging station compared to a gas-powered vehicle. The current pricing of electric vehicles is driving away a large portion of the population due to a lack of confidence in return investment that comes with the high cost of electric vehicles. Not enough people are currently making enough money to drive that price down of the production of electric vehicles in order to create a more affordable market for those who cannot afford an electric vehicle yet. The price of these electric vehicles must decrease at a much faster rate in order to see a more rapid response to the continuously dwindling environment. 

Another main argument that has manifested within those who support electric vehicles is that electric vehicles must be replaced by gas-powered vehicles due to the pollution they form. Even though there is pollution from gas-powered vehicle emissions, the gas used for these vehicles is a source of financial gain in poorer countries. The gas-powered vehicles run on gasoline, which is based from oil that is fracked from the ground. There are many places where fracking is a major source of income for the country and helps to create a market for countries who otherwise have nothing to offer in the resources department. In the research report by Jorik Fritsch, “Economic value of gas-to-power and export utilization”, he states how oil fracking has helped to keep many countries afloat in the current situations of the market and that since there is no significant natural resources to contaminate with the emissions, the country decides to dig for oil. More specifically talking about Ghana’s export of gas to power has been able to increase its values since its oil has been sent to countries including Japan, which at that time was the big oil consumer in the world (Fritsch 12). The message being conveyed is that if all gas-powered vehicles were to be eliminated, these small countries would erupt into poverty far below where they are now. 

 Even if this ideology of keeping gas-powered vehicles costs the environment, electric vehicles are also damaging the environment which their own chemical and physical waste with their depleted batteries.  It is not logical to take countries who do not have resources and/or finance to rebuild their system of economy just introduce a new form of pollution. In order for these struggling countries to have a stable economy with electrical vehicles in use, they need financial aid from wealthier countries for the resources to build their economy. The majority of countries are still trying to recover from the pandemic and there is simply no room or money to spare for a restructuring of an oil-based economy. It will take many decades or even centuries before the world is able to get funding to these countries to go electric, however the environment is still depleting as every moment passes by. By the time these poorer countries are able to go all electric the environment will already be too damaged to save, and the population of humans will be in danger due to the circumstances we have put ourselves in. If removing pollution was the main goal, there is no real solution as we humans need electrical and gas power in everyday life as well as evolve as a race of beings.  

In our current age, gas-powered vehicles are equally as harmful as electric powered vehicles, however, they do provide more financial benefits. Electric vehicles are comparable to how detrimental gas-powered vehicles have left crops to rot and cause carbon pollution around the world. The high pricing, the physical limitations of charging stations, and the nuclear waste that power plants have to produce to accommodate the influx of electric vehicles, has created a new issue in the realm of global pollution and fails to help mend the issue of containing and eliminating chemical emissions that harm the environment. Our current option of increasing drilling into the earth and burning oil in order to produce power is not a helpful option. And the current “solution” of using electric vehicles only create new problem is not any better as there is still chemical and physical toxins that are generated from the increase waste in car batteries. The plant is still suffering in one way or another as these two different paths to powering vehicles still cause pollution and it is up to us to figure out ways to produce energy that does not produce harmful consequences to the environment and the economy. If there is not a more efficient and environmentally helpful way to decrease pollution while keeping everyone financially stable, there will be no environment to save, and we will live in the wasteland that we have created. 

Resources: 

Cai, Hao, et al. “Life-Cycle Greenhouse Gas and Criteria Air Pollutant Emissions of Electric Vehicles in the United States.” SAE International Journal of Alternative Powertrains, vol. 2, no. 2, SAE International, 2013, pp. 325–36, http://www.jstor.org/stable/26169016. 

Fritsch, Jorik. “Economic Value of Gas-to-Power and Export Utilization.” Gas-to-Power Market and Investment Incentive for Enhancing Generation Capacity: An Analysis of Ghana’s Electricity Sector, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, 2015, pp. 10–16, http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep30986.8. 

Holland, Stephen P., et al. “Are There Environmental Benefits from Driving Electric Vehicles? The Importance of Local Factors.” The American Economic Review, vol. 106, no. 12, American Economic Association, 2016, pp. 3700–29, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24911358. 

Moorhouse, Jeremy, and Katie Laufenberg. Electric Vehicles: Powering the Future. Pembina Institute, 2010, http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep00254. 

Palmer, Brian. “Electric vs. Gas: Is It Cheaper to Drive an EV?” NRDC, 31 July 2020, www.nrdc.org/stories/electric-vs-gas-it-cheaper-drive-ev.