W5: Are Electric Vehicles the Future?

Present situation:

In the present day, Electric Vehicle’s (EV) popularity is on the rise as people are considering as a possible choice when purchasing a vehicle. In this day and age, vehicles powered by oil is still the primary choice of vehicle for the normal people. This is because it has been used for almost a hundred years and many people think that it is more reliable. Actually, EVs are a much better choice compared to oil based vehicles. First and foremost, EV’s can rely on renewable energy to power it, making it a much more eco-friendly mode of transportation. Other than that, it does not emit harmful gasses when used as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide is only released from the use of oil based vehicles.

Future vision:

In the near future, EVs will be much more advanced than what it is in the present day. It is certain that battery technologies for EVs will be much more advanced in terms of its efficiency and capacity in the future. Solid-state batteries will be the main driving force in advancing battery technology as it has faster charging, larger capacity and longer longevity compared to modern batteries using lithium-ion. Other than that, EVs will be fully automated with much more advanced artificial intelligence capabilities. The EVs will be fully self-driving and not requiring human input. They will also be operating in sync with other EVs on the road to maximize safety and reduce travel time. Moreover, future EVs would be much more sustainable compared to modern day EVs. This is because EVs will be made out of more sustainable materials that can be recycled and repurposed at the end of their lifecycle. Other than that, bio-degradable materials will also be used to make the body kits of the EVs so that they will degrade even after the vehicles are not in use.

 

Creative solutions:

1.      1. EV charging infrastructure should be improved upon

Due to the lack of charging infrastructure for EVs in the present day, many people choose not to purchase and use EVs. To promote the use of EVs and improve its coverage and reliability, charging infrastructure is crucial in expanding the areas EVs can travel to. This initiative can be taken by the government, local electric service providers and EV manufacturers. They can work together to build more high speed charging stations across the country to combat the low capacity of modern batteries found in EVs.

 

2.      2. AI technology should be developed further with use of EVs in mind

In the present stage of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, self-driving features are still lacking as full self-driving capability is still not feasible. Other than that, the highway infrastructure in the current day is not designed to cater for self-driving vehicles. To combat this issue, AI technology specifically for self-driving vehicles should be researched and utilized in EVs to optimize the vehicles performance and safety. This allows EVs to improve on aspects such as machine vision, power delivery optimization and pathfinding.

 

3.      3. Sustainability has to be the main priority in the manufacture and design of EVs

Due to the materials used to manufacture EVs currently, EVs are not sustainable as the materials used take a very long time to degrade as they are high strength polymers. Moreover, the lifespan of the batteries used in EVs are rather short, causing the longevity of EVs to be poor. This causes wastage as EVs become out of use by the consumers quickly compared to traditional vehicles due to its faster wear and tear cycle. To solve this issue, recyclable materials should be used for EV components. This allows the manufacturers to collect the parts from old EVs to be recycled into parts for new EVs. Moreover, bio-degradable materials can also be used for EV parts as an alternative. Furthermore, battery longevity of EVs should also be prioritized when it comes to research and development to increase the lifespan of EVs.

 

Reflection:

In retrospect, this blog post is inspired by my own interest in electric vehicles and the programme I am currently studying which is Mechatronics Engineering. Electric vehicles represent the field of Mechatronics Engineering very well as it combines aspects of Mechanical Engineering and Electronics Engineering. The solutions that I have came up with are based on the current trends in electric vehicles and the roadmaps of electric vehicle manufacturers.

 

 

References

 

Stewart, J. (2016). TESLA [Image]. WIRED.

https://www.wired.com/2016/09/teslas-self-driving-software-gets-major-update/