Have you ever seen anyone driving an electric car? Do you own one yourself? In the article A Recharging Industry Rises by MATTHEW L. WALD it talks about how electric cars and hybrids are becoming more common. This article was published November 12, 2013 so it is fairly recent.
Electric cars as you can assume are powered by electricity not Gasoline. Also there are gasoline-electric hybrid cars. They are just what it sounds like, a cross between a gasoline-powered car and an electric car.
This article talks a lot about the ways to charge the batteries that make the cars run. There are at least four ways to go about this. The first option is a regular 120-volt wall charger. This is the same one that you plug your alarm clock into. The second option is a 240- volt wall charger that will charge it a lot faster, but will cost a few thousand dollars. The third option is renting a parking space that has electricity. Finally the fourth and most expensive option is to use a 30,000 dollar super fast public charger, that will take only minutes! By showing the many charging opportunities the owners have the more electric cars they are going to sell.
The charging business is starting to blow up. Two main companies that work with chargers are CarCharging and ChargePoint. CarCharging owns machines and give landlords a cut of their prophets. ChargePoint sells machines and allows owner to decide how to distribute power. Many parking lots are buying machines from ChargePoint because not only can they charge for parking but they can charge for charging the cars.
One thing that this article does not mention is where the electricity comes from. Most often electricity is made by power plants that burn fuels like coal. Although some is created by wind mills, nuclear power plants, solar fields and some others. But, the most common way is by burning fuels. Isn’t the main reason that electric cars were made was to not burn fuels? The worst part is that a lot of energy is wasted getting it from the power plants to the outlets in your house.
In my opinion electric cars can be good or bad it really depends on your lifestyle. If you are traveling many miles each day than than a fuel efficient car might be the best because electric cars will not be able to drive far enough. But if you only drive short amounts each day then you might think about an electric car. If price is a problem for you than a non-electric car might be better because they are cheaper. Finally some people might not chose a electric car because of how they look. All electric cars do not look like Priuses. For example a company called Tesla makes many cool looking cars that run just like a Prius.
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| A Tesla all electric car |
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| A Ford Fusion Hybrid |
Will,
ReplyDeleteYou wrote about a topic which is constantly becoming more important in our society, and one which I find very interesting and relevant. Like you said, it is healthier for the environment to drive an electric car, but how does that electricity get generated? It is created by burning fossil fuels. I think the best thing about your writing piece was the fact that you got your message across without hitting the reader over the head with a dump truck load full of information, and you kept it simple while adding necessary details. The only suggestion I have is to format your introduction a little better, as it looks like a separate unit from the rest of the writing. Overall, excellent work!
-Travis
I think you chose a very interesting topic that is current. I really like how you went on to tell us what the article didn't and how the in order to make the chargers, ossil uels were still being burned. I think that is a very interesting point. Also, I think you hade good valid reason to buy electric cars and to not buy them. I like how your blog post was short and to the point and the only thing that was a little off was the format.
ReplyDeleteI like that you pointed out how even though the electric cars are technically better the energy still has to come from somewhere. You did a good job of showing for who the electric car would be good for and which it would be better just to get a regular car. You pointed out the negative in a business which is supposed to be so amazing which is a good thing so people get a better perspective. Good job.
ReplyDeleteI thought you did a great job on your post. There were no gramatical errors and I thought it was very well put together. I liked how you picked a topic that a lot of people can relate to, since more and more electirc cars are being seen on the rodes. Before reading this post I had no idea how electirc cars got charged and how they transported this energy to your house. After reading this blog I now have a clear understanding on how this is done because you did such a good job explaining it! I also liked how you encluded that the energy for these electric cars is producced by burning coal. Overall, I enjoyed reading this post.
ReplyDeleteI liked how your topic is based on something that is happening in today's world. People are very curious about electric cars. I also liked how you mentioned the articles positives and negatives. If the electric cars are burning fossil fuels, it may not be a good idea for us to use them. I agree with your opinion in that electric cars may only be best fit for some people. I think it would be cool to plug in your car at night rather that pumping gas into it! There were some formatting problems, but other than that, great job! I enjoyed reading about this topic
ReplyDeleteGreat job mate! I agree in the sense that this is a huge problem being addressed in not just the united states but also throughout the world. Soon we are going to run out of oil and fossil fuels to burn for our daily needs. We need to resort to other styles of obtaining energy. Like said in your article, we are starting to form ideas on how to take in energy from the sun and wind. I think research on this is going to boom in the next few years. Hopefully we can find a way to get rid of gasoline powered cars and completely switch over to electric cars. You did a great job connecting in your writing and i enjoyed reading it. Keep up the good work Will.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting blog! I find it very interesting that even though they are advertising that these new electric cars are helping the environment because they aren’t burning gasoline, most of the electricity is in fact coming from burning fossil fuels. They seem to be becoming more popular and are being highly advertised, but we have to be careful and look at where that energy is really coming from. I agree with you that electric cars may be a useful purchase for people who don’t drive very far in a day, but it would not be useful for people who need to drive long distances each day because they would run out of energy. My only question is: does charging your car at home with the wall chargers become very expensive because it uses a lot of electricity?
ReplyDeleteGood job Will. I have always wondered how much electric cars help the environment since the electricity has to come from some where. I liked how you helped exsplain that. I was a little bit confused with why you talked about the different charging stations. Are any of them more effecant than the other? I wish that you had gone into a little more depth about that. I did like how you talked about how there is cooler looking cars than just a pruis. Because who wants to drive a prius? Overall you did a great job.
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone for the great feedback! I will definitely look at it when writing my next blog post.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post. It's great that there are so many charging options available for electric cars. Unfortunately, it seems that the chargers are as large of an investment as the cars themselves. I really liked that you pointed out how electric cars are only beneficial for certain lifestyles. It doesn't make sense for a person who needs to travel long distances to have an electric car because they'll need to recharge it more often than they would need to refill a gas fueled car. This results in a larger amount of burning fossil fuels, which is what we're trying to avoid. I think you did a great job.
ReplyDeleteWill I liked how your article was on a topic based on a revolution in our society today. I liked how your article was short and to the point about the electric cars. My thinking is just like yours with electric cars. If you drive long distances then you should not use electric and if cost is an issue. I think while the concept of the electric car is good, fossil fuels still must be burned to create that power. Maybe if there were solar or wind -powered power plants and they weren't so expensive electric cars would lead a charge in an environmental revolution.
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