Future of Electric Cars

Why in news?

• Britain recently decided to outlaw the sale of new diesel and petrol cars      and vans from 2040 in a bid to cut air pollution.
• French government also made a similar proposal to ban petrol and diesel cars, including hybrid vehicles that have an electric motor and a petrol or diesel engine.

What are the challenges?

• In the UK, demand for diesel cars dropped 10% in the second quarter of this year.
• People like the idea of reducing their carbon footprint, as well as electric cars’ fast acceleration and noiselessness.
• But there are several challenges.
• No more than 10% of those who consider an electric vehicle actually buy one.
• There are the longer-term questions of whether the charging infrastructure will keep up with the number of vehicles, and availability of electrical grids.
• Financial incentives can help by bringing electric-car prices close to those of traditional vehicles but they’re not enough for a breakthrough.
• Only countries such as Norway, where the incentives make electric vehicles appreciably cheaper to buy and own, have seen significant uptake.
• Governments are rightly hesitant to force something on consumers that doesn’t really work for them.

Source: Live Mint