Advantages and disadvantages of electric cars

With many people in the UK looking for greener alternatives for travelling, purchasing an electric car is the preferred option where riding a bicycle is not possibly. Over the last 15 years alone, the amount of people owning an electric car has gone up by 20% and there are many tax benefits and saving that come with electric vehicles that many people find it too hard to resist.

Pros and Cons of electric cars?

Like everything, purchasing an electric car has its good points and bad points. So to help you make an informed decision, take all the following into consideration.
The advantages of electric cars:

• Electric cars are environmentally friendly as they emit less CO2 than standard cars
• Most electric cars are smaller than the average car
• There is no road tax to pay on electric cars
• Electric cars require no fuel so you will save hundreds of pounds on petrol a year
• In London, many places are introducing free parking for electric vehicles
• There are many places to recharge the electric car battery
• When the car brakes are applied the car battery is recharged (only modern cars with regenerative braking though)
• Electric battery packs only need changing every 4 years
• Electric vehicles also do not require as much maintenance as a petrol based car
• Charging stations are being introduced in shopping centre car parks across the UK

The disadvantages of electric cars:

• Electric cars have battery packs that require charging every night
• Electric cars do not have much horsepower so can only do as little as 25mph and up to 60mph
• Due to a quiet engine, electric cars can pose a hazard to blind or visually impaired people so more attentions should be paid when driving in towns and local roads
• With each battery charge, you can only drive an average of 50 -100 miles, so it should be used for local driving mostly
• Due to electric cars not being mass produced, they can be quite expensive
• Electric vehicles do not cause pollution but the power plants producing electricity emit a lot of pollution which adds to the greenhouse effect

If driving is a must and you want to help save the planet, then an electric is the way to go forward. If people keep on driving petrol or diesel based cars, it will be not long before significant changes are noticed regarding climate change and perhaps it might be too late to do something about it. So it's better to act now!