The Covid-19 virus outbreak has affected billions of lives all throughout the globe. Even today, the normality of daily activities is still greatly hindered.
Since the beginning of 2020, the world was shocked by a unique virus outbreak and then led to a historic pandemic. The year 2020 will certainly be a year that everybody, both the young and the old, will never forget. With everything on lockdown and strict laws being enforced to keep the virus at bay, literally every aspect of people’s lives has been affected and this includes our means of mobility.
What the Virus Has Done to Mobility
With the virus still lingering and continuing to be at the forefront of society’s concern, it is common to forget about other worldly problems that are also affecting our mobility. Global warming, for example, is one issue that has just as big of an effect as the pandemic to cars.
Due to the planet’s warm temperature gradually rising because of too much greenhouse gas emissions, there is a high demand for reducing these gases so that our planet can survive longer than expected. This, of course, poses a challenge to scientists and engineers because producing something the reduces the greenhouse effect while still providing society their needed transportation is very difficult.
When it comes to inventions, there always has to be some sort of compromise and to compromise mobility for eco-friendly means is not always taken gladly by society. So, the challenge is not so much in the reduction of greenhouse gases, but to figure out a way to meet in the middle. With the high demand for mobility in the world of today and the increasing protest to reduce greenhouse gases, scientists and engineers are now pressured to find a way for a more sustainable or alternative result.
Electric cars may be the new future
One of the recent outcomes of attempting to produce a more eco-friendly mobility vehicle is electric cars. Electric cars run on battery instead of gasoline or diesel, which obviously means that the greenhouse gas emitted is considerably reduced. Because of this, electric cars have been on the top priority list of car manufacturers to address the global warming issue.
There are great benefits to electric cars, mainly the fact that they don’t emit any greenhouse gases. Just this alone is what’s driving inventors to work on this innovative concept already. Another very beneficial effect of electric cars is that they are still providing society its means of transportation, so there is no compromise in this area.
Unfortunately, however, it is not easy to achieve perfection. The main downside to electric cars is that the method of manufacturing them, such as creating the parts, still requires the use of technology that emits greenhouse gases. In the end, there is still a bit of greenhouse gases being added to the global warming problem due to their productions.
Even the electric car battery is under observation
It is without a doubt that society is extremely hard to please. Even with the invention of electric cars, there is always some sort of concern that arises. Besides the problematic means of the electric car’s overall production, the batteries used are specifically under investigation.
Batteries consist of certain raw materials that are sometimes mined through unsustainable means and therefore can negatively impact the environment around them. One of these major raw components of batteries is nickel. Within recent years, changes have been made to mine nickel in a more sustainable way and have proven to reduce their greenhouse gas effects.
This is definitely great news because nickel is a metal that helps batteries last much longer and perform much better. It does this by possessing a higher voltage capacity and containing about twice the energy density as other battery materials. So, having a good composition of nickel in batteries can allow electric cars to travel further and with lesser weight.
The benefits of electric cars in both the pandemic and global warming issues
Although we are not yet there with perfecting the electric car, it is a fact that this idea is going in the right direction if we are to reduce the total global warming problem. Even if production does add to the world’s greenhouse gases, it is still a great thing that electric cars do not continue adding to it once they are made. Compared to gasoline or diesel vehicles, having an electric car will definitely help you to reduce your greenhouse gas output.
With regard to the current pandemic, it is also helpful to have an electric car. With most countries on lockdown and businesses temporarily closed down, the majority of gas stations are unavailable. This is, of course, to prevent the spread of the virus by distancing people as much as possible. At least with an electric car, you won’t have to worry about the fact that you will run out of fuel. Instead, you can rest assured in the knowledge that electricity will not be affected by the pandemic and therefore will continue to run your electric vehicle to get you to places you need.
The electric car is still undergoing improvements, although they are already available for purchase. Companies like Tesla are purely dedicated to perfecting this beneficial innovation, so we can only hope that electric cars will hold the answer to our mobility problems in the future.
Conclusion
Covid-19 has been relentless since the beginning of the year and has caused every soul on the planet to fear this deadly virus. Because of fear, it is always good news when certain aspects of our lives go unchanged, such as our means of transportation. Society also becomes pleased when an issue is tacked conveniently. This is what electric cars have proven during this time of global turmoil – hitting two birds with one stone. With the reduction of greenhouse gases reduced due to everyone staying at home, we can only hope that the use of electric cars will significantly further reduce the total global warming we’ve struggled with for many years.