Electric Cars
The Electric Car has a history but is there a future in the UK or will there be a better option?
The invention of the first Electric Car was in 1830 but was not perfected until the creation of rechargeable batteries in 1859. By 1912 50 companies were producing 34,000 electric cars. Once the development of the electric starting motor occurred and the price of fuel was cheap then the electric cars industry vanished. The oil crisis in the 1970’s caused some re-emergence of electric cars but the high costs made them very difficult to sell; as manufacturers found it impossible to make profits and abandoned the project. In 1980’s fuel and oil prices dropped and anti-pollution devices were developed for cars which still didn’t make it a viable proposition for manufacturers to progress further with electric cars. Then it was found that emissions from fuelled vehicles were causing high pollution which made the government and car manufacturers re-think ways to improve vehicle emissions and pollution. In 1990’s a major change occurred with development of new improved batteries which would extend the capabilities of electric cars. Electric vehicles were manufactured for companies to use as fleet vehicles delivering over short distances. Government intervention made car manufacturers further their research into electric cars.
Progression has only really developed in recent years due to the oil crisis in the world, as the world’s oil levels will seriously fall below the requirement for international demand and concerns about the greenhouse effect. All major car manufacturers are developing designs that will have customer appeal and therefore give them the advantage in the marketplace. At the Electrical Vehicles International Meeting held in October 2008; the UK Department of Transport headed by Geoff Hoon stated the government’s intention to fund 3 main programmes, the 1st being the encouragement of development of electric vehicles, 2nd a competition through the
The invention of the first Electric Car was in 1830 but was not perfected until the creation of rechargeable batteries in 1859. By 1912 50 companies were producing 34,000 electric cars. Once the development of the electric starting motor occurred and the price of fuel was cheap then the electric cars industry vanished. The oil crisis in the 1970’s caused some re-emergence of electric cars but the high costs made them very difficult to sell; as manufacturers found it impossible to make profits and abandoned the project. In 1980’s fuel and oil prices dropped and anti-pollution devices were developed for cars which still didn’t make it a viable proposition for manufacturers to progress further with electric cars. Then it was found that emissions from fuelled vehicles were causing high pollution which made the government and car manufacturers re-think ways to improve vehicle emissions and pollution. In 1990’s a major change occurred with development of new improved batteries which would extend the capabilities of electric cars. Electric vehicles were manufactured for companies to use as fleet vehicles delivering over short distances. Government intervention made car manufacturers further their research into electric cars.
Progression has only really developed in recent years due to the oil crisis in the world, as the world’s oil levels will seriously fall below the requirement for international demand and concerns about the greenhouse effect. All major car manufacturers are developing designs that will have customer appeal and therefore give them the advantage in the marketplace. At the Electrical Vehicles International Meeting held in October 2008; the UK Department of Transport headed by Geoff Hoon stated the government’s intention to fund 3 main programmes, the 1st being the encouragement of development of electric vehicles, 2nd a competition through the
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