Electric Vehicles Ready for Big Debut in Automotive Industry

As the automotive industry races towards production of more fuel-efficient vehicles, several new technologies have slowly emerged. Sure, there's some bit of work that can still be done on the lowly gasoline engine to improve efficiency, but going forward, the automotive industry is now eying entirely new technologies to provide a much needed boost in fuel efficiency.

Driving the race towards production of more fuel-efficient vehicles is the ever more stringent emissions standards that are emerging and will come into full effect by 2016. As automakers develop new technologies to meet upcoming CAFE regulations, the electric vehicle has emerged on the scene.

As AutoblogGreen reports, few major automakers have or will have an electric vehicle on the market soon. But several automakers have formally announced plans to develop electric vehicles for introduction by 2013. Currently, Mitsubishi and Nissan have production-ready electric vehicles that will emerge in the U.S. soon, but BMW, Audi, Ford, Volkswagen, Honda and Toyota will release battery-powered vehicles just within the next few years.

Since battery-powered vehicles are relatively new to the automotive industry, many concerns abound. Consumers are concerned over range limitations, battery life, availability of charging stations, costs and so on. While these are certainly valid concerns, automakers remain confident that many of these potential hurdles can be overcome in due time.

Though there are potential downsides linked to electric vehicles, they also have the potential to dramatically reduce our dependency on foreign oil, eliminate a significant percentage of emissions and provide us with a clean means for transportation in the future. Electric vehicles operate emissions free, are cheap to charge up and free us from the need to return to a gas pump to fuel our vehicle.

Price and battery technology remain as two of the major hurdles that must be overcome before electric vehicles see widespread adoption. As it stands now, many electric vehicles carry a premium of more than $10,000 over comparable gasoline-powered vehicles. This premium is attributed to high battery costs. In addition, the limited range of most electric vehicles (often 100 miles or less) has many potential buyers concerned.

If battery technology progresses along and automakers find ways to cut costs, electric vehicles could prove to be the perfect solution as we search for ways to clean up the environment and reduce our gasoline consumption. Though it may take decades before electric vehicles garner widespread success, the commitments by numerous automakers virtually assure us that electric vehicles are coming en masse soon.

Source: AutoblogGreen.com