Several upstart car companies such as Tesla Motors, along with several other established car makers have announced plans to mass produce electric cars that will rely on the electric grid’s power supply for fuel. While this all sounds like a good idea, with gas prices and environmental concerns escalating, do the pros really outweigh the cons? We’ve come up with a list from several sources of the important arguments for and against an electric car platform.

First, what is an electric car platform? Electric cars cannot be mass produced and expected to safely and efficiently recharge without significant infrastructure upgrades from the major power companies in the US. A platform needs to be created that allows electric cars to refuel as often and reliably as allowed by gas stations.

So why do we want to pursue this alternative to conventional gasoline powered cars? The reasons may seems obvious - less emissions into the environment, less dependence on foreign oil, and potentially lower costs for fueling your car. First, let’s look a little closer at the benefits to an electric powered car platform.

Benefits

• Electric-industry research shows that electrifying transportation cuts emissions even if the electricity it supplies is created by coal burning power plants. This is because power plants convert coal into electricity more efficiently than gasoline consuming combustion engines convert gas into power to the wheels of a car.
• Its cheaper to recharge a battery than to buy the equivalent amount of gas needed to fuel a car for a trip of the same distance.
• Power grids and their supplying plants may actually start running more efficiently with the added demand for electricity during off-peak hours. The long-term plan would be for electric cars to recharge during off-peak hours (usually early morning hours 12am-5am) while there is less demand on the grid from normal use. This would slightly increase productivity at power plants with capacity to spare. Research shows there is enough excess capacity at early hours of the day to recharge millions of cars, that is currently left unused.
• Cars will be recharged at lower rates than other appliances, effectively increasing the already large gap in cost to fuel a car (second point).
• Another cost benefit - with congressional plans to set a price on carbon-based emissions, utilities could get special discounts by proving that the electricity they supply ultimately replaces gasoline and cuts emissions overall.

Concerns

• Internal combustion engines are much more efficient and cost effective in terms of power-per-dollar. It is estimated that gas powered cars can be 10 times more efficient than electric cars to generate the equivalent horsepower.
• Costs are currently very high to produce long lasting rechargeable batteries that can provide a car with even half the range of a tank of gas. This would mean recharging more often than having to refuel, and if the power grid can only be leveraged at night time for such demand, consumers may face real dilemmas.

The benefits seem to far outweigh the concerns. There are however some major hiccups. It is obvious that the power industry needs to work in chorus with car companies to develop a sustainable and scalable electric grid to effectively replace refueling demand currently supplied by gas stations. Car manufacturers will also need to work harder to make cars that perform as well on electricity as they do on gas, with regard to range and power.