Electric Cars vs Gasoline Cars
In our lifetime, electric cars have become increasingly prevalent in every day life. Many car companies are realizing that people want to switch to electric cars to save money on gas, but also to potentially have a lower carbon footprint. A common question asked about electric cars is whether or not they are actually better for the environment, because many people find how the companies mine the materials for their batteries to be quite harmful. This may be true, however when the vehicle is actually in use, electric cars emit much less emissions than gasoline cars. This is because the energy used to charge the electric cars is cleaner than using gas to refill gasoline cars. A study done in the article I read said that a 2020 Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus uses .24 kWh of electricity for every mile. This is the most efficient electric car right now, and so with this data, the study looked at how many "miles per gallon" the car would get compared to a gasoline car. They found that if you lived in upstate New York and had this car, the efficiency of it would be comparable to a gas car getting 306 miles per gallon! This is absolutely ridiculous, because the highest you can normally find in a gas car is around 50 miles per gallon. The reason this is so high is because of the kind of energy the area uses, which mainly consists of wind, nuclear and hydroelectric. The kind of energy you use to charge your electric car is a big factor in lowering carbon emissions. As we start to use cleaner, more renewable energy, this number will only go up and electric cars will continue to become better for the environment. However, although there are clear advantages to electric cars, there are also many advantages to gasoline cars. The main being ease of use on longer road trips, as having to stop to charge your car would take a while compared to filling up at a gas station. Electric cars may be the clear future, but we are far from them being the easiest, most accessible option.
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