Today, without government subsidies and political pressure, it is impossible to make the world switch from petrol cars to electric ones. This means that both subsidies and pressure must be maintained in order to preserve the environment and the future of humanity,» wrote publicist Elena Likhach in her blog on Medium.
First of all, the blogger worries about the current price trends in the electric car market, because it is on average twice as expensive as a conventional car. If this continues, a complete transition to green energy on the roads is out of the question for the foreseeable future.
«This kind of thing has happened before in history. Not many people know, but Henry Ford’s wife Clara preferred to drive a 1922 Detroit Electric Сoupe 90. This electric car was a luxury item, not a means of transportation. The car interior had plush carpets, vases for flowers, and other trappings of an English living room from King Edward’s time. The electric car was custom made for Clara Ford, and cost almost $4,000, which is $6,500 in today’s money. Compare that to the $825 minimum price for the gasoline Ford Model T that Henry was producing and appreciate the horrifying gap,» stresses Yelena Likhach.
The blogger reminds us that back at the beginning of the 20th century, the fleet of just one New York cab company had 17,000 electric cars. In the United States alone, there were a couple of dozen companies that produced 1,200 electric cars a year. By 1912, there had been about 39,000 electric cars on American roads. In general, petrol cars as much as 7 years later than their electric counterparts crossed the speed bar of 100 km/h.
Back then, electric cars were better and easier to use. It was difficult, inconvenient and even dangerous to start petrol-powered cars, because they were started manually with a ‘crooked starter’. But, cheap Texas oil and the invention in 1912 of the electric starter for the internal combustion engine led to Henry Ford starting mass production of the Ford Model T on the first modern assembly line as early as 1913. As a result, electric cars received a severe blow, from which they cannot recover to this day.
Last year, 6.5 million electric cars were sold, i.e. 109 % more than in 2020. But only 4 % of new cars sold in the US in 2021 were electric ones. In China and Europe, the situation is slightly better – 15% and 19%, respectively.
“We can say that demand has been negatively affected by COVID restrictions. It can also be a shortage of chips or something else that looks like objective reasons. But I think that globally it is about something else. It is believed that most people will never swap their cars for electric ones because of financial reasons. Well, then it is up to environmental activists to step up the pressure on state leaders. Governments should help manufacturers reduce the price of electric cars. Somebody has to take responsibility for the safe future of the planet,» sums up Yelena Likhach.
Earlier, the blogger called for reducing excessive consumption by residents in rich countries and stopping global warming, which causes natural disasters in the world more and more often. Yelena Likhach also explained why hundreds of thousands of women are still dying of breast cancer worldwide, despite the fact that billions are being poured into the fight against this terrible disease.
About Author
