The Lion's Pride Volume 9 (January 2018) | Page 66

Electric Cars: What is the Real Cost of Charging?
Ben Smith
This essay was written for an English 101 class.
In 2017, many of the cars on the road run on electricity. Buyers are
drawn to them because they are what appear to be great for the
environment: quiet, low emissions, cheaper to operate than gas and
diesel-powered options; and in recent years have provided extra tax
benefits. Who wouldn’t want to save the environment with an efficient
commuter? Less emissions means you’re contributing less to ozone
deterioration and global warming; you can feel good about yourself as
you join all those other “gas” drivers sitting in the daily traffic jam on
your way to work. Some consumers will never succumb to the ele ctric
dream; there are many hidden environmental factors that you don’t see
on the sticker price of these fuel efficient “green” vehicles. The true
“cost” of charging an electric vehicle includes the production of the
batteries as well as how the electricity is created that is used to charge
them. These environmental impacts are felt worldwide and we are all
paying the price, maybe even at a higher cost than we think.
The first electric vehicle was invented in the 1830s; 80 years before a
battery/electric starter combo was created that could fully support an
automobile. Over the decades, attempts to main-stream electric vehicles
were tried. PBS indicates in its Electric Vehicle (EV) Timeline, that in
1900 “Of the 4,192 cars produced in the United States 28 percent were