Not many will argue that gasoline-powered cars have had a significant negative impact on the environment. Almost every government on this planet has realized that we humans need to do something to salvage what is remaining of our environment. The car industry has also taken steps towards going green.
Not so long ago, the concept of electric vehicles was foreign, and they were considered to be nothing more than a waste of money. Much has changed in the past decade and almost every car manufacturer is now designing electric cars at a rapid pace.
To help consumers purchase electric vehicles, many governments are offering subsidies and/or tax breaks. At the same time, gasoline vehicles are being taxed much higher. For the public, the only incentive to buy an electric vehicle is if they will save money; however, a few virtuous individuals may consider saving the environment as a reason for buying an electric vehicle.
At the moment, there are about 1.5 million electric vehicles in the United States, but experts estimate that within the next five years, there will be close to 18 million electric vehicles on U.S. roads alone. Of these, at least 40 percent are hybrids that still require gasoline.
Compare this with the nearly 300 million gasoline-powered cars in the USA. When will there be no gas cars? There are still several issues with electric vehicles that need to be sorted out, such as:
- Lack of charging stations
- The time it takes to recharge the battery
- Lack of power
- Overloaded batteries
- Traveling distance is limited
- They are expensive
- Disposal of batteries
When will EVs replace gasoline-powered cars?
While some in the government indicate that within 10 years there will only be EVs on U.S. roads, this seems, at present, to be an unrealistic scenario. Getting the combustion engines off the road will not be an easy matter. When will there be no gas cars?
While EVs will start to become more common in the near future, gasoline cars will still be around for many years to come. There is a whole gasoline industry that employs millions of people that will slowly need to be phased out and offered other jobs.
The governments in many nations fully understand this and, so far, have only placed limits on the production of new gasoline cars. People who already have gas cars will still be allowed to drive them for many years to come.
Many of the used cars made in the 1990s and since will easily last two-three more decades and the way the economy is running, not many people will be in a hurry to buy an EV. As well, many people have antique and vintage cars which they love and will not just discard them.
To finally convince people to use EVs, the government will most likely add higher registration fees and taxes to gas-powered cars. But what many people do not realize is that while EVs are environmentally friendly, they still require a battery.
Those batteries need to be replaced every 5-10 years. And, with all the landfill sites for garbage already packed, how and where are we going to be disposing of all the millions of batteries that will accumulate once having served their purpose for electric vehicles? This question, and many others, still need to be answered before we can find the answers to the remaining questions, “When will gas cars be obsolete?” and “When will there be no gas cars?”
