Electric Car Research Paper

Volts and Amps are getting

Charged-up for the Future!

By Declan

Fossil fuels have been putting too much carbon in the atmosphere. Fossil fuels are coal and oil, they were formed from fossils. We burn these fuels in many different ways. One way is turning fossil fuels into gasoline for cars. We are trying very hard to find ways to replace fossil fuels. One way to replace fossil fuels is electricity. There have been 3 times in history we tried to use electric cars.1800 – early 1900s, late 1900s, and today.

In 1830s the first electric car was made! A man named Robert Anderson invented the first electric car but it was actually a carriage! Robert Anderson was in Scotland when he made the electric car (carriage) and he would be 186 years old if he was still alive. The electric car got an upgrade when the lead acid battery came out. The lead acid battery made the electric car go farther for longer.

Slowly gas cars got more and more popular than the electric car because people wanted to go out of town to a farther town. Gas cars went farther than electric cars and were a lot cheaper than electric cars because gas was so plentiful. Electric cars were really expensive back then and only rich people could buy them and they would not go very far. Gas cars back then seemed that there were no down sides but actually there was a downside. You had to hand crank a gear and if you did it wrong you could break your wrist!

The idea of electric cars is becoming more popular again. Electric cars companies are making more electric cars that are better, cheaper, and quieter. The new Nissan Leaf fit 90% of all drivers. Electric cars were $60,000 but now they get as low as $15,000! Electric car companies are slowing down global warming.

Gas cars pollute by burning greenhouse gasses (fossil fuels) that puts a ton of carbon in the atmosphere, all of the carbon warms up the atmosphere. Factories that make gas car pollute the air and the pollution goes in clouds and makes acid rain that kill plants and animals if they consume it.

By 2020 the government is planning to use 4.5 billion dollars on charging stations. If this does happen there will be electric car stations from coast to coast. For now there are only a few charging stations and charging takes 4 hours to charge a whole battery. But with a quick charge that comes with certain electric cars it will charge 80% of a battery in 30 minutes! The new Nissan Leaf can go 101 miles before recharging and it has a quick charge so 80% of its battery is charged in 30 minutes. Also it can get as cheap as $15,000 and its average cost is $20,000.

The GM EV1 was a very popular car. It was so popular that oil companies were afraid that they were going to go out of business. The oil companies paid the government to put them out of business. The company that made the GM EV1 tried to resist but there was way too much pressure that they had to get rid of them.

In 1970 Battronic created an electric truck that could hold 2,500 pounds and go 25 mph! GE asked Battroic to make a ton of vans and a few busses. Sebring thought electric cars were coming back so they built 2,000 Citi Cars that could go 55 miles in one charge at a speed of 44 mph.

The riddle “What can lift a thousand pounds a thousand meters and can fit in a tea cup?” This riddle means gasoline can make a car go a thousand meters.

Fossil fuels are formed by plants breathing in carbon. The plant keeps the carbon forever and when the plant dies it goes into the Earth. After millions of years the trapped carbon goes very deep underground where it turns into coal. Then it goes even deeper underground and turns into fossil fuels.

Do you think electric cars could be the future now? Or is there a better source to make a car? I think the future could be now if we let the electric car get better and lend it some help to make charging stations .The electric car is getting better and soon there will be millions of electric cars sold and running.

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