Gott launched his discussion with a look at the current global “car parc.” We have 800 million vehicles in the world today, he noted, with roughly 70 million new ones built each year. If China, India, and the rest of the world acquire as many vehicles per capita as Europe—which has roughly a car for every two people—we’ll end up with 3 billion cars on the planet by 2035. And if they use gasoline engines, we would need several times the volume of oil reserves currently known in Saudi Arabia just to fuel them.

Then Gott stepped back to 1900 for a history lesson. That year, US auto production was evenly split into thirds: Gasoline cars had 33 percent, but so did battery electric vehicles and steam cars. Of course, we know how that race turned out: Gasoline won, because it offered the virtues of autonomous range (no plugging in), speed, and ease of operation—once the electric self-starter was invented.

For the new century, though, three more factors come into play. Gott laid out the six criteria against which future vehicle power sources must be evaluated:

• Whole-cycle thermal efficiency, from “wells to wheels”
• Ease of monitoring and maintenance (to ensure low emissions and best efficiency)
• Diversity of energy sources—how widely available is the fuel, globally?
• Ease of use
• Autonomous range
• Cost

And battery electric vehicles end up with the best ratings across all six factors, compared to various types of combustion engines and fuel cells. The overall thermal efficiency of an EV is better, with 70 percent of a battery’s energy being converted to power—against just 25 percent of the energy in gasoline (heat and friction waste the rest). Coal-fired power plants aren’t hugely efficient (40 percent) but the electric grid will get progressively cleaner as federal and state mandates move toward restricting carbon and requiring a higher proportion of renewable sources. Fueling an EV with electricity generated entirely from renewable resources is best of all, of course.

Moving down the criteria, electric vehicles don’t need to be monitored for emissions, and electricity can be generated from a variety of sources and in many locations. They’re easy to use; and the steady evolution of battery technology will improve the range—even as the ways we use and pay for “transportation services” may change (think car-sharing, or paying by the mile for ownership, perhaps). Finally, cost will gradually come down to be competitive with combustion engines—and Global Insight’s various economists agreed that growing demand and the increasing cost of extraction will keep oil prices within their current range, or higher, for the foreseeable future.

These changes won’t happen overnight, and they don’t mean that combustion engines will vanish. Such changes will take decades, and there will always be duties for which only combustion engines are suited. And hybrids are very likely to claim an ever larger percentage of the road.

Gott pointed out that in 1900, battery and steam vehicles were preferred for city usage, while gasoline cars were only used in rural areas. Perhaps, he suggested, we may be headed back to the future.

Will Electric Cars Rule the Future?

The development of interior ignition engine vehicles, especially in automobiles, is one of the supreme achievements of modern technology as a new rising energy saving and environment -friendly vehicle, thats why the hybrid-electric vehicles were created to give convenience to every human.

In the process of creating the hybrid electric car, the most important is the energy saving and the environmental protection. Wherein nowadays this are the common problems faced by the society.

Having the hybrid-electric car evolved from the electric car. However, the main disadvantage of the electric car is that it is mainly dependent on the batteries. Therefore, has limited range.

First of all, the hybrid electric car was supposed to be an electric vehicle with batteries for power storage and is also equipped with an on-board heat engine-powered generator. This means that this type of hybrid has an extended range.

The heat engine power and the battery power are specifically intended as an important scheme that constantly modulates the excess between the heat engine and the battery power systems. This will also depend on the driving schedule.

Since the beginning of the use of automobiles, electric cars have been already recognized and conceptualized. Even though the electric power train is better in various aspects, as an energy source, the battery was unequal to the superior-energy content, easiness in terms of the handling, and inexpensive and profuse supplies of motor fuel.

Now, it has almost been a century since the electric car has been popularly discussed, but recent developments in the HEV technology and the growing concerns for the environment has revived the drive for an HEV and this has become a realization today.

We can consider the personal means of transportation as a very important bond in the economic chain of todays modern societies and that a private vehicle appears to be the popular choice.

Electric vehicles are more energy efficient than the contemporary vehicles wherein the electric vehicles operates at approximately 46 percent of effectiveness, while a contemporary vehicle operates at about 18 percent only.
There are studies that generally concludes that electric cars with batteries are approximately 10 to 30 percent more efficient with energy than the usual gasoline cars, depending on the exact assumptions of the vehicles energy usage and energy chain efficiency.

Certainly, the comparisons of the electric vehicles and the conventional vehicles are comparisons between an extremely developed power system that is nearly in the end of its research and development, and the innovative power system in the beginning stages of the development wherein important development can be expected as the new technology evolves.

Furthermore, the advantages of electric powered modes of transportation extends beyond the true outlook of economizing energy. Electric generation plants can use substitute fuels that are not adaptable to portable power systems.

Electric vehicles are the definitive alternative fuel vehicles because their power is taken from the source fuels utilized to produce electricity. Aside from that, the flexibility of the fuel alone can offer important useful and economic advantages especially in relation to a variety of energy resources.

The electric car is truly a promising technology that could transform one’s means of transportation into a far more environmentally type of commodity. Through this innovation emission controls become more important, effective and economically beneficial.

Hybrid Electric Car: A Promising Technology for a Promising Future for the Environment

Hybrid cars have two engines for it to effectively conserve fuel consumption. It has the traditional gasoline engine and it also has an electric motor and batteries. The two engines work together in order to cut fuel consumption. With this technology, you will be able to cut fuel usage by more than half. Just imagine, with a hybrid car, you will be able to go more than 60 miles to the gallon. With this kind of savings, hybrid cars are definitely the car of the future.

Hybrid car owners virtually dont feel the increasing cost in fuel prices. This is the main advantage of the hybrid car. There are other advantages that a hybrid car can give you. Recently, the President of the United States has signed an agreement that hybrid car buyers will be able to enjoy tax incentives. This means that by owning a hybrid car, you will be able to save money on taxes.

There are other benefits that the government imposes on hybrid car owners, such as free parking, and free entry to car pool lanes. Some even offer discounted fees on toll gates.

The braking in hybrid cars is also configured to capture the energy released and uses it to charge the batteries inside the hybrid car. This means that unlike electric cars, hybrid cars dont actually need to be charged from your home electric outlet.

However, with all the advantages that a hybrid car can give you, there are also disadvantages. The main disadvantage of hybrid cars is that the retail price is quite expensive. Only people who have enough money can purchase hybrid cars. However, the twist in all this is that hybrid cars are actually cheaper when compared to conventional cars in the long run. If you compute the total fuel consumption of both cars, you will actually see that you can save a lot more money on hybrid cars.

The only thing is that hybrid cars are expensive right from the car lot.

Hybrid cars are relatively heavy because of the heavy batteries installed inside the car. This is why hybrid car manufacturers integrates smaller internal combustion engines and are constructed with light materials and should be aerodynamic in order to maximize efficiency. This means that hybrid cars can never really go fast.

Another issue about hybrid cars is that it is very risky in accidents. What makes a hybrid car work effectively is also what makes it risky if it ever gets involved in an accident. This is because hybrid cars stores high amount of voltage in its batteries. This means that there is a high chance of getting electrocuted when you get involved in an accident. This also means that it is relatively difficult for rescuers to get the drivers and passengers out of the hybrid cars because of the dangers of high voltage in the car.

These are the advantages and the disadvantages of hybrid cars. Car manufacturers today are now looking for ways to get rid of the disadvantages of hybrid cars. In the near future, you will see that hybrid cars will be lighter and also contains less risk due to high voltage dangers.

Hybrid Cars: With Every Advantage There are Always Disadvantages