"Get down to, Electric Avenue..."

Electric cars are lauded as the ideal green alternative in a world of dwindling oil reserves and global ecological issues. Vehicle manufacturers are starting to develop commercially viable ‘all-electric’ vehicles in a bid to be the first to bring a practical electric vehicle to market.

There is no doubt that electric cars are beneficial to the environment. They do not release harmful pollutants into the atmosphere and reduce a global reliance on fossil fuels. The biggest pollutant with an all-electric vehicle is charging the battery, a process, which may be reliant on coal products. The goal is to make electric vehicles produce no emissions at all. A zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) would be able to remove all harmful CO² emissions.

The disadvantage of all electric vehicles has always been performance of the Lithium-ion batteries, especially in extreme weather conditions. You also have to be able to plug them into a power source to charge, and the charging process is lengthy. Price is a consideration for most drivers; the electric vehicle is still much more expensive than a gas-guzzler.

>>Up Next: What about hybrids?