2013 Electric Car
In the early 90s, electric cars were the stuff of electric dreams, but
by 1997 Toyota was introducing the hybrid electric car known as a Toyota
Prius and they very quickly became a common sight on our roads
(particularly in Los Angeles!). It took other manufacturers have taken a
while to catch on, but it is expected that over the next few years,
many more electric cars will be introduced by a variety of car
manufacturers.
Electric Car 2013 - Mainstream manufacturers like Vauxhall and Ford are planning on
introducing their first electric cars as early as 2013, while Peugeot,
Citroen and Renault have already introduced their first electric car
offerings and are working on expanding their range, and improving the
performance of their electric cars.
There have been many problems along the way with electric cars. The
biggest problem at the moment is the range. A lot of these cars have
only got 100 mile radius and then a nine hour plus recharge time. This
has obviously limited the sales of the vehicles already out in the
market place. Can you imagine how long it would take you to drive to
Scotland from London if you had to take a nine hour break from driving
every hour?! And you would also have to take a circuitous route to make
sure you reached a charging point at the end of that 100 miles. Not the
most convenient of vehicles if you need to do more than make short
journeys around town!
There is another bigger problem than the range of an electric car and
that is the noise. Electric vehicles are almost silent and this is a
massive problem to visually impaired. A global standard noise is to be
created to ensure that all electric vehicles sound the same. Whilst this
has not been approved as yet the work is already in production. Steve
Levine is leading music producer and his talents would usually be
targeted towards chart music. Whilst Steve was doing the research in to
the preferred sounds of the electric vehicle most people preferred it to
sound much the same as a normal petrol or diesel car. Importantly the
people questioned would also want to hear gear changes so the engine
note was not a constant sound! These electric engines are enclosed so
car servicing in the traditional sense will not be required although I
am sure these vehicles will still require annual checks of some sort, as
there are still a large amount of moving parts to consider.
