Oct 19, 20205 min read

The Future is Electric: Why gasoline vehicles will (and should) be overtaken

Updated: Oct 28, 2020

Four hundred Billion US Dollars. That eye-watering sum is the current market value of Tesla Inc, an automotive and clean energy company based in Palo Alto, California. This means that Tesla is worth more than Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Hyundai, Ford, and Volkswagen….combined; but a lot of people still haven’t heard of them. Why is that? Why should we even care?

Tesla is the leading electric automaker in the world; though they have sold just over one million cars, therefore barely commanding 0.1% of the total vehicle market. The company’s mission is to ‘accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.’ Due to the company’s great progress, other automakers are now falling over themselves as they try to develop mass market electric cars to compete with Tesla, who has enjoyed a tremendous head start in the EV market. Volkswagen recently announced a mammoth $36 billion dollar investment as they aim to be the leading EV maker by the end of the decade. So what does this mean for the future of automobiles?

The simple fact is that apart from the environmental problems associated with burning fossil fuels, they will not last forever. So, it is quite logical to start making the transition now, especially considering how long it will take to phase out the one billion plus gasoline vehicles in operation worldwide.

Before we talk about the future, let’s briefly go back a couple decades.

This is the GM EV1, first produced in 1996. General Motors released the car in response to a California mandate requiring a percentage of all new cars sold to be zero emissions vehicles. This was meant to alleviate growing air pollution problems. However, the car was expensive to produce and wasn’t profitable for GM. The battery technology was also lacking at the time which made it impractical for longer journeys. They quickly cut the program and recalled the cars a few years later.

Along came the Zagato Volpe, the smallest electric car in the world. It’s quite cute and you could park pretty much anywhere, and while the price is cheap, this two-seater mini is definitely a niche product. Plagued by range issues, limited space, and a less than pleasing aesthetic, it certainly wasn’t the mass market electric vehicle capable of disrupting the industry.

Fast Forward to 2008 and a small California start-up came out with this beauty. A sports car designed to showcase what an electric car could be, the Tesla Roadster (the first EV with more than 200 miles of range) paved the way for future vehicles and ushered in a new era in the automobile industry.

ARE ELECTRIC CARS TRULY BETTER FOR THE PLANET?

When it comes to this question, the answer seems to differ depending on who you ask. There are numerous benefits to owning an electric vehicle including lower running costs and little maintenance, but let’s discuss the impact that they have on the planet and its inhabitants.

Many concerns have been brought up with regards to the mining of lithium and its environmental impacts, citing water use and the energy-intensive nature of mining it. Lithium is an element which is needed to make batteries from electric cars to smartphones, laptops, and many other consumer electronics. However, no matter how you look it, electric cars are superior because they are the only truly sustainable form of transport. Lithium, while not done in a big way presently, is recyclable and will be done at scale in the future. Gasoline on the other hand, is burnt and released into the atmosphere upon use, never to be recovered.

How many times have you seen a vehicle spewing thick black fumes out of its exhaust? More than likely, its each and every single day. One major difference that comes to mind with an electric vehicle is the complete lack of an exhaust pipe. Since they do not have engines, there is no need for one and they emit practically nothing. This means 100% cleaner air in cities, as all the of the emissions are generated at the power plant, assuming that you are plugging into the grid. The other option, the ideal one, is to install your own solar power, enabling you to run your car entirely off of sunlight (pretty cool, I know). Eventually though, all electricity grids worldwide will run on renewable energy, so that wouldn’t be necessary then (what a great day that will be).

The 2020 Audi E-tron. EV designs really have come a long way

The manufacturing phase of electric vehicles tends to generate more emissions than gas powered cars because of the huge Lithium-ion battery. However, according to Tesla’s impact report, with improvements in the process, emissions generated will drop significantly in the future. The majority of the emissions is generated when the vehicle is in use however, and this is the area in which EVs truly excel. Electric motors are generally more efficient than gasoline engines and according to some reports, EVs may only use 1/3 the energy of a comparable gas car. Numbers vary because of the wide range of cars but it is unanimously accepted that Electric vehicles are still better than traditional gas vehicles; but this doesn’t even consider the most important aspect….the energy source.

According to a new report by the International Energy Agency, Solar power is now the cheapest form of electricity in most countries around the world, surpassing coal. Executive Director, Dr Faith Birol, stated that Solar will be the new 'king' of the world’s electricity markets. What this means for Electric cars is that their overall emissions and impact on the environment will drop even further. Emissions over the course of a car’s lifespan will be next to nothing, only coming from replacement parts (of which there are far less than a gas vehicle).

The top-selling EV in the world in 2020. Tesla's Model 3

So how is EV adoption going in the Caribbean?

Fully electric cars are few and far between at the moment with only a handful of Teslas here in Trinidad and Tobago. Hybrids are the more popular option right now and while they are more efficient and emit less CO2, are still gas-powered vehicles. I reached out to a local Tesla Model 3 owner who gave me an idea of how much it costs to charge the car. Upon doing my own calculations, I got approximately TTD 27c per mile (4c USD). I think any driver will agree that’s much less than what they’re paying for gas right now. Unless of course they’re driving on CNG, but that’s a topic for another time.

In the Trinidad & Tobago 2021 Budget, finance minister Colm Imbert, removed tax breaks on the importation of private motor vehicles, with hybrids and electric vehicles now being subject to the lowest taxes. This will incentivize the importation of those type of cars.

The future of transport is electric, and our air quality will be undeniably miles better because of it.