Why the Move to Electric Vehicles

Why the Move to Electric Vehicles

Why the move to electric vehicles. It is largely because in the past few years there has become an increasing realisation that it is impossible to totally remove emissions from petrol engines. This applies even more so to diesel engines (although to their shame, major European car makers used fraudulent methods to cover this up). It is now all but certain that diesel cars and diesel 4WDs will cease being made after 2030. Many makers are planning an earlier date for diesel as it is becoming clear that it virtually impossible to remove the major polluting components.

As our associated article Electric Vehicle History shows, this is not so much a move to electric vehicles – but a return to them. Almost all cars in the USA were electric from the late 1800s until 1920 or so. They were rendered obsolete largely because battery technology was stagnant – and that of petrol engines was not. It is now virtually certain that about half of all cars will be electric by 2030, with the current part fossil-fuel/part electric hybrids being phased out as battery storage technology advances (to provide comparable range) and the recharge network becomes global.

There is also a strong  possibility that we could see hydrogen used both as a fuel and for energy storage (it works well for both). Its only downside is that it is corrosive.

As the world seems to be increasingly taking climate change seriously the move to electric vehicles is accelerating.  In July 2021, the European Commission proposed a 100 % reduction of emissions for new sales of cars and vans as of 2030. In 2021, General Motors announced plans to go fully electric by 2035. Volvo Cars announced that by 2030 it “intends to only sell fully electric cars and phase out any car in its global portfolio with an internal combustion engine, including hybrids.” It’s clear that the change is inevitable.