History of the Evolution of Electric Cars

The title of this article is “The electric car revolution is coming. This is what has to happen first.” The author of this article is “Peter Valdes-Dapena.” The source of this article is “CNN.” This article is talking about mainly the evolution of electric cars. Electric cars (EV) are the Future of the automobile industry.

This topic has so many connections with the economics aspect we have covered in the class. To begin, scarcity is a situation when unlimited wants exceed the limited resources available. Just like the resources to build a fast and efficient vehicle like what tesla is doing. Economics is the study of the choices people make to attain their goals, given their scarce resources. Resources are less, so they have to overcome those resources to meet the unlimited wants. Which is exactly what tesla and other EV cars are doing. Another point is that people are rational, consumers weigh the benefits and costs of buying a product. When you buy a EV car, there are many benefits that outweigh compared to buying a gas car.

Therefore, consumers buy the product that has more benefits than cost. Another point is that people respond to economic incentives. For example, EV cars are harmless to the environment, they do not emit Carbon Monoxide into the environment. While gas cars emit carbon monoxide, affecting the earth in a negative way and causing Global Warming. Since United States is a mixed economy, the government incentives / involvement in the business is also visible. Example of this is the government gave 8 subsidies to Tesla, which is billions of dollars and 1 Bailout, which is millions of dollars. So, the government did help tesla a lot, even though it’s a loan. Tesla’s Stock Market Graphs clearly show a declining profit. Since the start of Tesla, there is no profit.

I personally am a Tesla fan and I will definitely buy a tesla one day. I do agree with this article. Because I do believe electric cars are the future of the automotive industry. I also believe by 2020, electric cars will outsell gasoline powered cars. If Tesla works on the main key points for Tesla to be equal or above gasoline powered cars, it needs to get all the points this author described in the article. I also believe Tesla’s network of fast chargers are a major selling point of its cars and SUV’s. Tesla’s simplistic and minimal design both interior and exterior is another factor of its selling point. Also, Tesla’s 0-60 acceleration is another point most people buy tesla. According to “Peter Valdes-Dapena”, for electric cars to go against gasoline powered cars, a few things need to happen first. Those are going the distance, a different mindset of customers, more choices and better prices.” It is indeed true that electric cars should go equal or more miles than a gasoline powered car on single charge. Within 10 years, they will be doing just that. Also, a different mindset is needed and formed when you buy electric cars. Whenever you buy a gasoline powered car, you don’t need to worry about filling up the tank. Because gas stations are everywhere.

Currently superchargers are not everywhere, but they are improving and multiplying the superchargers everywhere yearly. There are 1,604 supercharger stations with 14,081 superchargers around the world. They are building more supercharger stations everywhere each year. The price of charging a tesla is half of what a filling up a gas tank. In order for more tesla cars to sell, what tesla needs to achieve is lower MSRP, the lower the MSRP, the higher the sales. The Model 3 has proven just that and that’s exactly the reason Tesla is releasing Model Y. In Conclusion, I believe the evolution of electric cars is the future.