Why Be Fossil When You Can Go Electric?
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) transport accounted for about 23% of global carbon dioxide emissions in 2010 and 27% of end-use energy emissions with urban transport accounting for about 40% of end-use energy consumption. I am sure you’ll agree with me that 2010 is a long time ago and these figures would have gone higher even with all the improvements in fuel efficiency. Our real solution still has to be a final burial for the fossil vehicles.
A major difference between battery powered cars (Electric Cars) and gasoline cars (Fossil Cars) is the quantity of energy they each carry. As of 2015, a Nissan leaf with battery equivalent of 2/3rd a gallon of petrol, can travel 85miles while a gasoline car can barely go 20miles on the same quantity of fuel. It is true that the century old dominant internal combustion engine vehicles (i.e Diesel and Petrol Engine) currently boasts of a higher energy density but the electric vehicle still has the lowest fuel cost.
Climate change is real and more often than not, it is the poorest that gets served the most. According to Dessalegn and Akalu (2015), climatic temperature in the continent of Africa alone will rise by 2 to 6°C over the next 100years with predicted losses of about $26 million by 2060 due to climate change. The pressing need to take active actions toward the disastrous effects of climate change has created an entirely new world.
Vast investments have been and are being made globally into developing an alternative to fuel vehicles (i.e Internal Combustion Engine), of all the potential solutions, Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) are among the most popular and cleanest option with zero greenhouse emission or pollutant. Trying to list all negative effects of CO emissions would be a waste of time as it is happening all around us, this is why we need to further change our mindset and face the realities of our ever changing world.
The decision to own a car in Nigeria is often driven by two key motives either as a symbol of social status or purely for the purpose of mobility in general. Irrelevant of the motive behind the buying, it is time we started thinking about what powers our vehicles as an essential criteria in our buying decisions.
Governments around the globe are putting policies and incentives in place to further encourage innovation in the areas of renewable energy with Nigeria being the 146th nation to sign the Paris Climate Agreement. Private investors are investing now more than ever in powerful battery technologies such as the Li-S (Lithium-Sulfur) as a replacement for the Li-ion (Abba et all, 2017).
It’s a no win situation for the fossil engine cars because Electric Cars are here to stay. EVs are cheaper to maintain, environmental friendly, zero pollution, and a cleaner option.
References
- World Health Organization. 2018. WHO | Climate impacts. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.who.int/sustainable-development/transport/health-risks/climate-impacts/en/. [Accessed 03 September 2018].
- Dessalegn Obsi Gemeda, Akalu Dafisa Sima. “The impacts of climate change on African continent and the way forward.” Journal of Ecology and the Natural Environment7, no. 10 (2015): 256–262.
- Abbas Fotouhi, Daniel J. Auger, Laura O’Neill , Tom Cleaver and Sylwia Walus. “Lithium-Sulfur Battery Technology Readiness and Applications — A Review .” 2017.
- Types of Batteries Used for Electric Vehicles. 2018. Types of Batteries Used for Electric Vehicles. [ONLINE] Available at: http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2016/ph240/mok2/. [Accessed 03 September 2018].
