Stalled for almost a century, electric cars are about to move into the quick lane when the initial of a new generation of automobiles reaches dealer showrooms next month.
Each main automaker plans some sort of electric or plug-in hybrid offering over the next numerous years, a wave of competing technologies reminiscent of the beginning of the automobile age.
General Motors will soon begin shipping its Chevrolet Volt, which uses a gas engine to create electricity when the batteries run out. By year’s end, Nissan will launch its Leaf, which is powered only by batteries and is going to be in a position to get the equivalent of 99 miles per gallon in combined city and highway driving, the organization stated Monday. Ford will come out with an all-electric version of its Focus compact automobile next year.
“Electric automobiles are finally actual and not an R&D project,” stated Mark Sogomian, a partner at Ernst & Young.
This influx of new-technology cars comes after a century of reliance on gasoline combustion engine automobiles. A lot more than a century ago, cars ran on all kinds of fuels and strange mechanisms: windup cars on giant springs, Peugeots burning something similar to mothballs, and automobiles on steam, electricity along with a variety of petroleum products.
Fossil fuels eventually won that race due to the fact gasoline was stuffed with energy and was convenient to transport and store.
Still, everyone has toyed with electric cars in recent decades, particularly throughout times of high gas prices. But they never caught on due to the fact battery technology limited the range of the cars and oil prices often receded, making electric cars comparatively too expensive. Now, improvements in battery technology, pollution concerns and fears of soaring gas prices have given new impetus to alternative-fuel automobiles.
As electric cars step from lab to showroom, consumers need to select
Stalled for almost a century, electric cars are about to move into the quick lane when the initial of a new generation of automobiles reaches dealer showrooms next month.
Each main automaker plans some sort of electric or plug-in hybrid offering over the next numerous years, a wave of competing technologies reminiscent of the beginning of the automobile age.
General Motors will soon begin shipping its Chevrolet Volt, which uses a gas engine to create electricity when the batteries run out. By year’s end, Nissan will launch its Leaf, which is powered only by batteries and is going to be in a position to get the equivalent of 99 miles per gallon in combined city and highway driving, the organization stated Monday. Ford will come out with an all-electric version of its Focus compact automobile next year.
“Electric automobiles are finally actual and not an R&D project,” stated Mark Sogomian, a partner at Ernst & Young.
This influx of new-technology cars comes after a century of reliance on gasoline combustion engine automobiles. A lot more than a century ago, cars ran on all kinds of fuels and strange mechanisms: windup cars on giant springs, Peugeots burning something similar to mothballs, and automobiles on steam, electricity along with a variety of petroleum products.
Fossil fuels eventually won that race due to the fact gasoline was stuffed with energy and was convenient to transport and store.
Still, everyone has toyed with electric cars in recent decades, particularly throughout times of high gas prices. But they never caught on due to the fact battery technology limited the range of the cars and oil prices often receded, making electric cars comparatively too expensive. Now, improvements in battery technology, pollution concerns and fears of soaring gas prices have given new impetus to alternative-fuel automobiles.
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