AUTOMOBILES
THE CHALLENGE:
Most everyone in the modern world now owns a vehicle. These vehicles come in many shapes and sizes, but most all of them guzzle down gas at a very high rate and are terrible for the environment if they continue to be used at the same rate. North Americans are the most dependable upon their vehicles than any another region, and most use their cars up to 4 or 5 times a day.This constant and everyday pollution that takes place no matter what, on a daily basis. It also increases our nations dependency on oil as a whole, which means the eventual loss of oil will devastate our economy and leave us immobile. Conventional cars just seem like the thing of the past, they are no longer the most efficient in terms of the environment or even general performance. One of the biggest contributors to why an improvement to the design of a car has always been stopped is because the people in power at the head quarters of these car companies, would prefer the market remained the same, and that no new invention could dominate the market and cause these companies to lose business. As oil becomes scare, people are going further away and engaging in more dangerous areas to harvest oil, these high risk situations can lead to devastating oil spills that can taint ecosystems for generations and even cause human causality. The automobile, as it exists now, is a thing of the past and it does nothing but slow down the advancement of the environment and eradicating climate change.
THE SOLUTION:
The U.S currently has over 250 million automobiles in rotation, and its predicted that the world would have over 2.5 billion automobiles in rotation by 2050. This is why, requiring carmakers to produce more fuel-efficient cars, and discouraging consumers from buying gas-guzzlers through a heavy sales tax on those vehicles is vital. The lesser the fuel consumption of the car, the less smoke that will come out of its exhaust. While the gas coming out of one exhaust of one car may not seem very significant, we must remember that gas is multiplied by 250 million in the United States everyday. Electric cars are also, not only better for the environment, but they also are way more efficient. Conventional gasoline vehicles only convert about 17-21% of the energy stored into power at the wheels. An electric motor typically is between 85% and 90% efficient, now this number does go down once the motor is actually put into the vehicle, but it is still way more efficient than a conventional gasoline car. Tesla Motors, has done a great deal to popularize the electric car, and make it a desired car among the general population. In 2008 Tesla Motors released its first car, the completely electric Roadster. In company tests, it achieved 245 miles on a single charge, a range that was unprecedented for a production electric car. Additional tests showed that its performance was comparable to many gasoline-powered sports cars. Roadster could accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in les than 4 seconds. But perhaps most importantly, the Roaster produced no tailpipe emissions, as it did not use an internal-combustion engine. The vehicles electric motor was powered by lithium-ion cells, which could be charged from a standard outlet, at home or from one of the many charging stations that are still being rapidly installed across North America. Of course, electric cars have been around for quite some time, but Tesla is different because it took environmental consciousness and put in the shape of an incredible sports car, it was the first truly “cool” electric car. I believe other companies (automobile or not) should follow in the footsteps of Tesla Motors and turn to focusing on products that aren’t wasteful or require fossil fuels. Renewable Energy is the future and companies like Tesla Motors, are some of the people who are leading this change and profiting greatly from it (Elon Musk’s net worth is $23.6 billion)