Electric Cars -The Future! I Blog By Siddharth,15,Mumbai

Electric Cars -The Future!

My name is Siddharth, and I am here to talk about electric cars.  A few years ago, my family and I drove to my grandparents’ house in our ten-year-old car with an internal combustion engine, which, to be honest, I like for its comfort and design but also dislike because of how much fuel it guzzles! During that trip, I noted that the car gives an average mileage of around 8.5 km in the city and the first thought I remember thinking in my head was ‘Gosh! This is not efficient at all, and I am contributing to all that pollution that we see and read about almost every day and turn a blind eye to.’ So, during the entire trip, I was mulling over the epiphany that struck me and then towards the end of it, I stumbled upon another epiphany! We have the perfect solution to obliterate all that pollution on Indian roads with something that we use every day—I dare say we use it even more than we drive our cars—electricity! We just need to use it in our cars! That day I started reading about electric cars, which were not seen on the roads of India yet and today I am happy to say that my family drives one every day. 

Many of the cars we see on our roads today are still ICE cars, which stand for cars that run on internal combustion engines. However, the stats geek will also tell you that around 1.6 million electric vehicles were sold in India in 2024, which makes the EV penetration in India at around 7% and this is steadily growing. 

Extensive usage of electric vehicles ought to mitigate most of the road pollution in India. Electric cars emit zero harmful gases and if all our roads are filled with such cars, then would we not have better air quality in our cities? I also believe that electric cars should mitigate noise pollution. Noise pollution is not given the same kind of importance as air pollution, but it plays an important role in the health of an individual. Excessive exposure to noise pollution can cause permanent hearing loss and loud noises can cause physical and psychological stress. Suffice it to say that noise pollution is dangerous to an individual and extensive usage of electric cars can reduce it drastically, as the only sound EVs tend to make is noise made by their tires or the wind at high speeds. Another great advantage of electric cars, isn’t it? 

Most of you would have heard of Tesla and it is almost synonymous with electric cars. Speaking about Tesla, the company is the most popular and the second largest electric car company as of today (BYD, a Chinese company, overtook Tesla in 2023). These fascinating machines made by Tesla are unfortunately not available in India but are expected to make an entry soon. You can be sure that Tesla will be a hit once it comes to India and many of Elon Musk’s fans would agree; however, it is rumoured to start at a steep price of Rs 70 lakhs or so, making it a premium car in the luxury segment. 

The next advantage of electric cars is that their cost of ownership is dirt cheap! If electricity costs as much as petrol or diesel, we would be paupers by now, but thankfully it does not. A petrol car’s running cost is around Rs 10-12 per km and in comparison, an EV car costs around Rs 2-2.5 per km. The cost of recharging the batteries of an electric car shall reduce even further if charged using solar power. Many governments, including ours, offer huge incentives in the form of subsidies to consumers buying electric cars to promote clean transportation. A big compulsory discount on a very popular car—no one is complaining, I dare say!  Nowadays, with the industries being where they are, things are being mass-produced like never before and batteries are no exception. This has therefore brought the battery cost down. In terms of regular maintenance of your car, there is very little that needs to be done for an EV and hence maintenance costs are also low. For these reasons, we can conclude that electric cars are much cheaper to run than ICE cars.

Next, I would like to touch upon motor efficiency. The energy efficiency of an electric motor is three times that of an internal combustion engine. Therefore, converting the potential energy from a lithium-ion battery to kinetic energy in terms of the motion of the car is best achieved most efficiently in an electric car. Also, electric cars come with a regeneration braking feature, which means that at the time of braking of the car, it converts the kinetic energy back into potential energy and charges the lithium-ion battery. Think of it as the three Rs: reduce, reuse and recycle. The car reduces your carbon footprint, reuses potential energy and recycles kinetic energy.

The road safety department and your neighbourhood traffic policeman would be especially pleased to hear that electric cars are safer to use than ICE cars. Electric cars have a lower centre of gravity due to their battery’s placement and because of the lower centre of gravity, electric cars are more stable in case of a collision on the road as compared to other cars. In case of an accident, the electric supply is cut off from the battery. In the absence of combustible fuel or gas, electric cars are less likely to explode, preventing serious fire injuries. Phew, that is good to know, isn’t it?

My last point is to address a general misconception about how electric cars are not suitable for driving long distances. I would beg to differ here and point out how so many companies are now developing long-range EV cars that can run 500 km on a full charge. Truly 500 km can get you a long way, at least about the same as your ICE car. Also, public charging infrastructure across the country has significantly improved in the last couple of years, encouraging more and more people to consider buying an EV car. 

I quoted some stats in the article early on to show how EV sales are increasing, and one might hope that many more such cars will replace petrol and diesel-fuelled vehicles. As we know, climate change is a reality, and reducing the carbon footprint is the future goal of almost every country. I hope this article encourages each one of you and your families to think about wanting to buy an electric car as soon as you can. I sure can’t wait to get that coveted driver’s license for myself a few years from now so that I can sit behind the wheel of a Tesla and experience the joy of driving. 

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