(Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from 18-year-old student writer “gracebird57″ in Jeff LeJeune’s English 102 course, November 2023. Some liberties have been taken with paragraph breakage to more fit the blog model))
On the roads today, electric vehicles (EV) are increasing in popularity.
Through evident statistics, sale prices have skyrocketed throughout the years. In 2020, it began at a 4% increase in 2020, 14% in 2022, and at the time of this writing, a 25% growth in the first quarter of 2023 over the previous first quarter in 2022. This increase in sales is predicted by some sources expect growth to be at 35% by the end of 2023, which in time, will lead to a decrease in the sales of GV’s, something that our economy does not need.
Manufacturing companies have pushed the idea to their consumers that these vehicles are “the future,” or even an eventual solution to environmental contamination, but said companies forget to include the fact that they are doing the exact opposite of what they claim to be solving. EV’s are heavily pollutive, destructive, and some may even argue, useless. It is a good guess to say that these vehicles could end up being the downfall of the stability within our economy, even if the people are told the complete opposite.
Consumers believe that EV’s will decrease greenhouse gas emissions and pollution, but this is simply a lie that manufacturing companies are gaslighting their customers into believing. As a matter of fact,
taking into account the whole production process, making a petrol or diesel car releases about 7 to 10 tonnes of CO2. Making an electric car releases roughly the same amount of CO2, but then you have to add in the production of the battery. Estimates suggest that 150 kg of CO2 are released for every 1 kiloWatt hour (kWh) of battery capacity. For an electric car to have a decent range (say 300 miles) between charges, it needs a battery that’s at least 60kWh in capacity. This means that a further 9 tonnes of CO2 will be emitted during the making of an electric car, giving a total of 16-19 tonnes of CO2 emitted. So at this point, an electric car seems worse for the environment than a fossil fuel one. (Littlewood 4-5)
It is easy to believe that EV’s are more environmentally friendly, especially when the general audience is being told (and lied to!) by manufacturing companies that EV’s are far better than GV’s. Even though EV’s produce more than double the amount of CO2 produced in GV’s, consumers are being herded into a pit of destruction by forcing a movement to expand the EV fleet. Some people may disagree with these claims, though it is simply based on facts, which many people like to purely deny and ignore.
For example, some things like “Coal and natural gas…[are] required to generate the power that charges lithium-ion batteries, supplied through plants which themselves are releasing dangerous toxic waste, in some cases more than just burning regular gasoline” (Bakian 5-6). The EV industry is unsurprisingly rebutting the claim that the vehicles are doing harm for the environment, making themselves look untrustworthy–at best. Companies are making EV’s “the gold standard,” as Bakian terms it (3), causing consumers to fall victim to these manipulative lies and making them contributors to the very environmental issues so many people are trying to solve. People must stop adopting the herd mentality, and realize the true consequences of what they are consuming.
One of the most vital and probably the most concerning aspects of EV’s is the cost. As if inflation isn’t high enough already, “the true cost of fueling a MY2021 EV, including excess charging costs and subsidies, is equal to $17.33 per gallon of gasoline” (Bennett and Isaac 4-6). With gasoline prices constantly fluctuating at a rate that is unpredictable, it is already hard enough for people to stay afloat. But even considering the fact that the true cost of fueling an EV is equal to $17.33 a gallon, it is a price that is just way too expensive. It is unrealistic to expect people to spend so much money on an EV when it is a substantially better choice to opt for a GV. If we’re not careful, “these EV’s will “[drive] the American auto industry off an economic cliff” (Bennett and Isaac 3-4). It is evident that due to the costly expenses that concern EV’s, if they truly become “the future,” it will begin and most likely cause an economic downfall. If people now can barely afford gas, it seems nefarious on some level for manufacturing companies to think that people can afford the price of an EV.
Even though EV’s offer many different concerns economically and environmentally, concerns about potential dangers involved with EV’s greatly outweigh the benefits. Batteries in EV’s “[are] more dangerous that an open gas tank filled with gas. Not only can the smallest penetration cause them to explode, a minor overheat, or even outside temperatures being too high, the real danger comes once it catches fire” (Bennett and Isaac 14). Bakian would agree: Batteries in EV’s “[release] potentially toxic byproducts into the environment, causing potentially more pollutants and more damage than traditional gasoline” (7). Even while EVs are substantially more risky and dangerous than GV’s, manufacturing companies continue to flood the zone with the idea of consuming harmful products. In all reality, no sensible human being would really want to buy something that is potentially dangerous to their health and safety, especially when the dangers present themselves to be so menacing. Not only do the batteries in EV’s offer potential dangers to humans; the environmental dangers present active dangers to humans as well. They can release toxic byproducts and ignite fires, posing a threat both to the driver operating the vehicle and other drivers on the road. One would be hard pressed to ignore these claims, specifically when there have been instances where these dangers have presented tangible threats to people.
The cons are simply too great in this argument. EV’s should not reign over GV’s. They will cause an economic downfall, they are dangerous, they are terrible for the environment, and they are much too costly for any everyday civilian to afford. Manufacturing companies of these EV’s must stop pushing their greedy agenda, because it will soon become very clear just how much the negatives outweigh the positives. These companies have become so manipulative when it comes to the EV’s, just because they have the desire to feed off consumers excited for new possibilities and to profit from them. Without giving a second thought to the actual consequences of their products, it seems, they are foolishly leading us to the ultimate descent into an all-too possible societal disaster.
Works Cited
Bakian, Amir. “Electric Vehicles and the Untold Secret: Are They Actually Worse For The Environment and More Dangerous Than Gas?” Miami Herald, February 23, 2023, https://www.miamiherald.com/contributor-content/article272574443.html. Accessed 23 October 2023.
Bennett, Brent, and Jason Isaac. “Overcharged Expectations: Unmasking the True Costs of Electric Vehicles.” Texas Public Policy Foundation, October 2023, https://www.texaspolicy.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/2023-10-TrueCostofEVs-BennettIsaac.pdf. Accessed 23 October 2023.
Littlewood, Peter. “Electric Cars: A revolution in personal transport.” Young People’s Trust For the Environment, September 2022, https://ypte.org.uk/factsheets/electric-cars/what-are-the-downsides-to-electric-cars?hide_donation_prompt=1. Accessed 23 October 2023.
