One of the main reasons why conventional combustion engines dominate the market is the price. Conventional cars are often as much as 20% cheaper for the same type of vehicle. But with air pollution an increasing problem, environmentalists and government partners are always searching for ways to encourage people to buy electric and hybrid vehicles.
The only way to get people to ditch the combustion engine is for electric technology to drop in price. And according to Bloomberg analysts, that’s exactly what’s going to happen. They predict that by 2022, it will be cheaper to buy an electric car than a conventional one. Combined with continued incentive efforts to entice more buyers to go clean, experts hope that the lower costs will jumpstart a new buying revolution.
Improved Technology for Electric Cars
Technology always starts out slow, clunky, and super expensive. Can you remember back to the 80s when the first personal computers first started becoming prominent in the market? Now, the device we all carry around in our pockets with us is dramatically superior to that technology. Not to mention, much cheaper to produce.
The same can be said for electric vehicles. The battery technology has actually been around longer than the combustion engine. Yet, the range was horrible and too expensive for anyone to take seriously. With no real demand to buy them, manufacturers had no reason to develop the technology into a viable reality.
Who wants to pay 20% more money for a car that can only carry you about 36 miles? That was the range for Chevy’s Volt back in 2010. Their expensive battery was over 400 pounds and cost about $35,000 in total. That’s quite expensive for the little distance. Why not just pay that price for a better combustion engine?
Still, like the computer, engineers and scientists have been figuring out ways to pack more power, get more distance, and do it taking up less space than they used to. These advancements seem to improve the function of the batteries as much as 10% each year. Tesla’s newest models can get over 200 miles on a single charge, soon to advance to over 300 miles.
Newer Technology, Cheaper Price
Back in the day, TVs used to be this enormous box structure and weighed hundreds of pounds. Now, you can get a lightweight flat screen for much cheaper. The technology has advanced and companies can make the parts cheaper. General Motors is doing the same with its new lithium-ion battery packs. Not only do they have improved distance, but cost about 70% less than they did in 2012.
The goal of electric car manufacturers is to get the price to drop again by 2020. But we’re still not quite ready to get away completely from our dependence on fossil fuels. Hybrids are trending towards remaining the more popular version of eco-friendly models. Hopefully, we will continue to switch from combustion engines to straight electric in the near future.
