The many disadvantages of electric cars

It is a myth that electric cars are green because they have no exhaust emissions.  The fact is that, depending on the region, most electric grid power stations use fossil fuels such as dirty coal, gas, and petroleum.  So electric cars are not a green sustainable solution for now.

Under moderate temperatures, most electric cars suffer from a limited average range of about 350 miles on a full charge, although some high-priced models can travel as far as 500 miles.  This makes long trips by car rather difficult, especially since there is a dearth of electric charging stations along the interstate highways and within city limits.

It takes much longer to charge an electric car to full capacity than it does to fill up the tank of a gasoline car.  Even with a fast charger, the charge time is 20 minutes to an hour.  This is not desirable if you are on a tight schedule, where time is important to you.  It is also a reason why obtaining a full charge at residential homes without fast chargers usually requires an overnight charging.

There is a very limited electric grid infrastructure, which will take years to upgrade, so we can't all switch to driving electric cars in the near future even if we wanted to.  Already noted is the paucity of charging station infrastructure, which makes it very inconvenient when charging up your car away from home.

Car battery degradation, or an inability to hold a charge, means that repairs or replacement may be necessary for the battery.  Battery life is limited by the number of charges, how fast you charge it, and whether you always fully charge it or only to about 80% for lithium batteries.  Car owners may have to replace their car batteries after driving 200,000 to 300,000 miles, which can add $4,000 to $20,000 depending on the model and make of the car.  This can add considerable extra cost to your car, and at about 100,000, miles the battery degradation and range reduction is more than 10%.

Electric cars have a higher initial cost than gasoline cars because the technology is still relatively new and production volumes are not that high.  At the end of 2022, the average price of an electric vehicle was about $61,500 compared with about $49,500 for all passenger cars and trucks.

According to AAA, during cold weather, electric vehicles often lose over 12% of their mileage range, but it can be a loss up to 41% with the heater on full blast.  Even worse is if you are stuck in a snowstorm on the highway.  Your car will have to be towed, and you risk the possibility of freezing when your car battery gives out.  During regular driving, if your battery discharges completely, your car will also probably have to be towed to the nearest charging station.

Electric car batteries mostly rely on lithium and cobalt, which are not rare earth elements, but the motor magnets do require rare earth elements, which are costly to mine and cause a lot of local pollution around the mines and refining centers.  A 2020 report by Amnesty International found that children as young as seven are working in hazardous and sometimes deadly conditions in cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which produces about half of the world's cobalt.  Similarly, child labor has been documented in lithium mines in Bolivia.

China is currently trying to monopolize (controls 90%) rare earth production, so the Chinese are becoming a strategic military threat to the world, not to mention a potential stranglehold on electric vehicle production.

Range anxiety may become a mental problem for you if you constantly fear that you will not get to a charging station before the battery runs out.

There is a limited availability of electric cars for sale in some regions of the country, especially the northernmost regions.

I digress a little to predict why heavy trucks will not go electric in the near future.  Large, expensive batteries; long charging times; inadequate charging station infrastructure; and cold weather are reasons why heavy trucks will still be diesel- or gasoline-powered into the near future.

Because of all the above considerable disadvantages, electric cars are currently not a viable or practical replacement for gasoline-powered cars.

Image: Rawpixel.com.

If you experience technical problems, please write to helpdesk@americanthinker.com