As people become more concerned about the environment and climate change, electric cars are growing in popularity. There are now over 6,809,322 electric cars on the road in the world.
Electric cars are far more eco-friendly than traditional vehicles, while still competing on performance and economy. But many people are still concerned about the drawbacks of electric cars, which may slow or stall a more widespread adoption of EVs.
This article will examine the downside of electric cars, including reliability and common issues.
The first downside of EVs is the reliability. A public survey revealed that electric cars are in fact the most unreliable cars on the road. The reason for this is the fact that the battery packs are hard to maintain, the electric driving motor is prone to breaking down and the complicated and unique heating and cooling system required on a vehicle that lacks an internal combustion engine. However, it is believed that electric cars’ reliability will improve in the coming years because they still have less mechanical parts that could break down.
Another key disadvantage of EVs is the battery life. Research showed that batteries capacity decreases by about 2.3% every single year. Battery life is of course highly dependent on temperature. One study found that in Florida, where temperatures are high, batteries last for 5.2 years on average. In Alaska’s cold climate, they could last up to 13.3 years. Other evidence suggests that EV batteries last much longer than originally thought. Some experts even believe that in many cases the battery outlasts the car itself.
The next issue is that electric climate control systems have been shown to decrease the range of the vehicle if they are inefficient. This is a particular problem when the car starts at a low temperature. So in winter, it is likely that the car’s heating will be less efficient. While the climate control systems in petrol and diesel cars are no more efficient, they have the benefit of vast amounts of waste heat to warm the cabin.
Then there is also the problem of the many electronic in-car failures. Drivers have reported issues from malfunctioning sensors to faulty doors. In May 2022, Tesla issued a recall due to a display screen fault affecting four car models. They have also recalled cars to tackle widespread automatic window problems. These problems are specific to particular makes or models, so they are not general EV problems.roducing the cars. EVs require scarce metals such as Lithium and cobalt. They are mostly mined in places where workers are treated miserably and poorly. The emissions, while zero from the car itself, are higher than one might expect. They are emitted by the manufacturing of the metals.
These problems, including the lack of charging stations, are the cause for a growing skepticism towards EVs in the population. It is a pity because most of these problems will be solved soon and there is no true alternative to EVs.