Benefits of Electric Vehicles on The Environment Assignment Sample

Research Design and Methods

Contents

Introduction.

Industry problems.

Research purpose.

Research question.

Industry background.

Industry gap.

Limitations.

Literature review..

Introduction.

Carbon emissions affecting environment

Benefits provided to the environment by electric vehicle.

Benefits of electric vehicles to transport industry.

Creation of jobs.

High profitability.

Opportunities for automakers.

Application and processes.

Internal combustion engines.

Conclusion.

Research design methodology.

Research design.

Research framework.

Data collection methods.

References.

Introduction to Research Design and Methods

The increasing apprehensions related to global climate change has coupled with concerns about over-reliance of humans over fossil fuels for the needs of the transportation which has resulted in rising emphasis in several parts of the world (Holland et al. 2016). Interest has been displayed specifically towards the development and promotion of electric vehicles as these have been considered as a solution to green the transportation needs, specifically with the generation of electricity out of renewable or non-fossil fuel sources like hydro, wind or geothermal power. These electric vehicles usually contain hybrids such as ultra-popular Toyota Prius which is mainly dependent on a gasoline-powered generator but more and more it is the mainstreaming of electric vehicle which functions completely on electricity grabbing the attention of public as well as policymakers.

Industry Problems

Research Purpose

The conventional engines systems used in several vehicles causes problems which contribute to undesirable aspects that are harmful to humans and the environment. Some of the issues may involve a restricted range of excellent quality of gaseous and liquid fuel, high cost of gasoline and diesel, high emissions, inappropriate for the huge scale of power generation and too much noise of engine because of the internal combustion.

To minimize and avoid such problems, various automotive companies have been trying to adopt and apply the manufacturing as well as the supply of electric cars for the society that would eventually enhance the quality of the environment. Furthermore, the cost of purchasing electric vehicles is higher as compared to petrol cars but the cost of running is low comparatively. Harmful pollutants are not emitted by the electric cars into the atmosphere such as carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, lead and many more. Electric cars perform better than petrol cars due to the availability of torque and power when the engine starts (Wilberforce et al. 2017). Therefore, the time consumption is quite low for the combustion of fuel inside the engines of conventional vehicles. These electric vehicles constitute improved energy efficiency since there is already the storage of energy within the batteries instead of producing it through the combustion of fuel inside the engine. 

The employment of electric vehicles has enlarged tremendously in the last few decades and has been touted in terms of a potential explanation to anthropogenic climate change even though various professionals have argued that these vehicles that are running off the current grid cannot be considered as compared other standard automobiles (Hannan et al. 2017). This topic is hotly debated but there has been no argument related to the fact that a non-trivial quantity of carbon emissions per kWh is produced by the current grid. This condition can be solved by connecting low carbon renewable energy and electric vehicles.

The purpose of this research is to understand the benefits of using electric vehicles to the environment and transport industry. It will also look into various aspects related to the electric vehicles that would be useful for us in analyzing the report.

Research Question

Is the use of the electric vehicle more beneficial to the environment and the transport?

Industry Background

The electric vehicles were first introduced during the 1830s by various investors. These vehicles functioned on non-rechargeable batteries and outsold gas cars for several decades. The Ford Motor Company began mass-producing the Model T which was kind of gas car that would become the icon in the transportation industry for the middle class (Todd et al. 2013). Moreover, electric cars then were considered to be vulnerable to breaking down along with the few mechanics. Lastly, an amalgamation of private as well as public investment encouraged the commencement mass production of electric vehicles during the late 1990s and all through 2000s.

Furthermore, there has been a steady move in searching for optional sources of energy for running vehicles which has been undeniably persuaded by the rising alarm for climate change that has taken place due to the rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

The electric vehicles are regarded as the future of the automobile sector and are anticipated to be a reality sooner as it was expected. Moreover, it can be said that a few years is going to be profitable and exciting for the automobile sector. Automobile manufacturers are likely to spend billion dollars in the rising technology in order to maintain relevancy.

Industry Gap

The industry of electric vehicles directs to the economic development advantages of greater adoption of electric vehicles which also alludes to few hurdles. Deployment of the electric vehicle will need to address some of the major drawbacks that mainly involve; reduction in the cost of PEVs, development of a wider network to have charging infrastructure and alignment of consumer perception of an electric vehicle with reality.

At present the supplication of electric vehicles prevails over demand and a high sticker price of PEV is considered to be a huge reason for why the adopters these electric vehicles are ready to pay the higher upfront cost in place of environmental as well as fuel benefits (Coffman et al. 2017). On the other hand, mainstream consumers, emphasis more on the upfront cost of electric vehicles instead of lifetime costs. The lifetime cost of the electric vehicles is required to be reached parity with the gas vehicles and also excel them by a minimum of 15-30%. To reach this milestone will thereby lead in the rise in demand along with making the electric vehicles more cutthroat with the gas cars in relation to costs.

Low and poor demand is also one of the hurdles in the deployment of electric vehicles which is inappropriate charging network, charging infrastructure needs to have a heavy upfront investment (Nykvist and Nilsson 2015). This makes the private investors diffident to invest on their own unless the demand for electric vehicles reaches the critical mass. Moreover, consumers can also be seen as hesitant unless they are aware of the convenient charging station.

Limitations

The research limitations are the obstacles or problems that can hamper the study being conducted. There can be various unforeseen situations or factors that can encumber the research such as unavailability of respondents for survey, personal bias, participants not being truthful, unavailability of literature for secondary research and lack of relevant data.

This report does not contain facts and figures related to the research question which does not provide us with the relevant understanding. Moreover, in order to get the exact information, primary research could be conducted through survey and preparing a questionnaire related to the topic. This could help in arriving at the actual result and understanding of the perception people have related to the use of electric vehicles.

Literature Review of Research Design and Methods

Introduction to Advancement of Electric Vehicles

The advancement of electric vehicles will provide various opportunities along with the challenges, specifically to the power electronics industry mainly in the growth of the main traction motor drive. Multiple future and present designs will integrate the application of induction motors in terms of primary source for electric vehicles traction. Global interest in electric transportation, specifically battery electric vehicles and electric vehicles, gas tremendously enhanced over the last numerous years. Electronic vehicles are considered to be the promising technology to drastically minimize an environmental load of road transport. A few years back and also recently, electric vehicles were advocated by several actors in terms of the significant components in the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions especially passengers cars, emissions of noise and pollution and light commercial vehicles. Moreover, electric passenger cars are not yet capable of being competitive with modern technology vehicle. Their costs remained higher and the technology of battery is still under-developed.

Carbon Emissions Affecting the Environment

According to Malmgren (2016) burning of gasoline generates carbon dioxide which is actually greenhouse gas concerned with climate change. Social Cost of Carbon is used by the US Environmental Protection Agency and various other federal agencies foe estimating climate benefits of carbon dioxide emissions reduction. The value of Social Cost of Carbon is supposed to capture the exact expense of damages caused due to climate change taking place because of carbon emissions that mainly involve changes occurring in net agricultural productivity, property damages due to increased risk of flood and changes in the cost of energy systems like enhanced air conditioning costs and reduced heating costs. However, several researchers have accepted that this value has failed to capture all kinds of ecological, economic, health and various physical damages that are associated with the climate change since it is difficult to accurately determine and quantify the damages caused by it.

Moreover, there are numerous motorized vehicles hound the major roads as well as the streets of the cities every day. While doing this, millions of litres of petrol and diesel are consumed on a daily basis. There are several contaminants that are released into the atmosphere due to the combustion of fuels which mainly includes hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and lead along with the many more particulate matter. Once the emissions of this particulate matter take place into the atmosphere, diffusion or mixing of air pollutants occur and the degree of which largely depends on the meteorological, climatic and topographic conditions. This is why the transport sector is considered to be the key contributor to greenhouse gases.

Benefits Provided to The Environment by Electric Vehicle

Comparison between gas-powered as well as electric versions of the vehicle displays various environmental advantages of the electric vehicles along with the provision of fair evaluation by comparing the version of electric vehicles with diesel-powered and gas versions of the same vehicles. It makes it explicit that electric cars are more beneficial and better for the environment as compared to petrol or diesel cars. The electric vehicles are considered to be a new concept in the automobile industry across the world. There are some organizations that have based their complete model of cars and other vehicles on the grounds of being proactive and utilization of electricity, some of them offer the hybrid vehicles offering both electricity as well as gas (Gelmanova et al. 2018).

Electricity vehicles are regarded as 100 per cent eco-friendly since they function on electrically powered engines. Hence, these electric vehicles do not release any kind of toxic gases in the environment because it runs on the cleanest source of energy. By using electric cars the consumers can contribute to green as well as a healthy climate (Holland et al. 2016). Moreover, these electric vehicles put restrain on nose pollution because these are made much quieter. The electric motors can provide a smooth drive along with the high acceleration concerning longer distances (Avci 2015).

Furthermore, if electric vehicles are recharged using renewable energy, greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced even further (Nordelof et al. 2014). The EV can be recharged using a solar PV system from the grid during the day time or green power can be purchased.

Benefits of Electric Vehicles to Transport Industry

Creation of jobs

The electrification of transportation can lead to the creation of jobs in a congregation of industries. The most well-organized automobiles need more advanced technology premeditated as well as created by adding up the employees in the auto industry. Most of such jobs are likely to be established in industrial sectors that are closely related to auto manufacturing, research and development and advanced batteries. Furthermore, as discussed earlier electric vehicles are usually cheaper in the operation as compared to the conventional vehicles. Therefore, drivers switching to electric vehicles can have extra non-refundable income for spending in various other sectors of the economy like housing and services. Investment in such sectors maintains more capital moving in the home economies which will lead in driving the creation of jobs in the sectors which are not immediately associated with the production of electric vehicles.

High profitability

The comparatively higher PEVs cost has led in the holding the market back from holding back from the completion with conventional vehicles. The primary factor for the high sticker price of PEVs is the cost of batteries. Todd, J. et al. (2013) stated in her research report that the cost associated with the charging of EV can be considered to be approximately a quarter of the costs of conventional fuel vehicle which takes around 30 miles per gallon. Moreover, the lower cost of operation of electric vehicles is considered to be the comparative advantage which further gets strengthened by the prices of the volatile gas. Apart from this, the authors further mentioned that the cost for the battery as well as fuel will all together identify how swiftly the PEVs become a cheaper alternative for private transportation and therefore how quickly the market enlarges.

Opportunities for automakers

The automakers usually specialize in the transmission and engine systems whilst outsourcing various other elements. However, it can be said the battery holds more value when the vehicle is more electric-dependent. Todd, J. et al. (2013) noted that key automakers have now started establishing in-house expertise or have partnered with the specialized battery or PEV enterprises for the purpose of differentiating their technology. The competition is based on building an appropriate battery, accomplish economies of scale and offer the consumer with the finest end value (Todd et al. 2013). With time, the value may take a turn from batteries to the software of power along with the thermal management systems.

Application and Processes

Internal combustion engines

Combustion can be regarded as the chemical or scientific name given for ‘burning’ that involves the discharge of energy due to the burning of mister of materials. Ignition of fuel takes place by spark plugs inside the internal combustion engine which then tends to transform the energy generated into work. The gases that are generated because of fuel combustion are responsible for expanding and pushing the piston which is available inside the engines for causing the rotation of the crankshaft (Ferguson & Kirkpatrick 2015). There are majorly two kinds of an internal combustion engine that run on two distinct types of fuels, one is petrol and the other one is diesel.

Electric Vehicles Battery operates by plugging into an electrical socket or in the charging point The energy gets stored within the rechargeable batteries in the vehicle due to the electricity generated after which that energy gets transferred into an electric power train that causes motion energy of wheel.

Plug-in electric vehicles are considered to be 100% electric and get charged up by utilizing the batteries that store energy. The plug-in hybrid vehicles are usually electric but also contains fuel combustion engine and the key reason for this kind of vehicle is to promote travel at the time when the vehicles runs short of stored electricity out of the battery.

Conclusion on Advancement of Electric Vehicles

It has been often reported that the expansion in the utilization of electricity in transportation is beneficial in saving a lot of money, enhances the environment along with the quality of life for the public. The customers are benefitted due to electrifying transportation by improving and optimizing the utilization of the energy grid and also increasing the incorporation of renewable energy resources. Moreover, electric firms can be seen partnering with the stakeholders to support the growth of electric vehicles and to facilitate the requirement of desired charging infrastructure in the communities and cities all over the globe.

Research Design Methodology

A research methodology is referred to as research design which is used by the person conducting research as a guide required to be followed for the successful completion of the study. It directs the problems as well as the objective of the research question along with the outcomes gained through different data collection tools as well as studies over a particular period of time (Sileyew, 2019). The research methodology is considered to be a vital portion of the research which sets the tone for conducting research and also prepares the person conducting it in every relevant sphere.

Research Design

The research design of this report is aimed at implementing on the basis of research topic created along with the research question. In this report, we have used an exploratory research design since there is not much information related to the topic. The exploratory research design is used when there is no availability of prior data but only all those studies that can be used for reference (Sileyew, 2019).

Research Framework

A research framework gives an essential structure for supporting collective research efforts. This report is aimed at understanding the benefits of electric vehicles on the environment and transport industry. The data that has been gathered can be utilized for formulating those activities that have been overlapped and those can be fed into the research. One of the significant advantages of having an electric vehicle is that it can reduce pollution by minimizing greenhouse emission. On the other hand, the transport industry can be benefitted with the increase in the sale due to its incremental cost. The research design used is exploratory which used to explore more information that has not been found in the previous researches.

Data Collection Methods

The process of collecting relevant, as well as desirable data with respect to the research, is known as data collection. For successful accumulation of data, every research resort to two different kinds of data, primary as well as secondary. In this report, we have used secondary data in which the information is gathered from the literature that is available and has been made obtainable to the public (Parveen & Showkat, 2017).

References for Research Design and Methods

Avci, B., Girotra, K. and Netessine, S., 2015. Electric vehicles with a battery switching station: Adoption and environmental impact. Management Science, 61(4), pp.772-794.

Todd, J., Chen, J. and Clogston, F., 2013. Creating the clean energy economy. analysis of the electric vehicle industry. International Economic Development Council, Washington, DC.

Ferguson, C. R., & Kirkpatrick, A. T. (2015). Internal combustion engines: applied thermosciences. John Wiley & Sons.

Gelmanova, Z.S., Zhabalova, G.G., Sivyakova, G.A., Lelikova, O.N., Onishchenko, O.N., Smailova, A.A. and Kamarova, S.N., 2018, May. Electric cars. Advantages and disadvantages. In Journal of Physics: Conference Series (Vol. 1015, No. 5, p. 052029). IOP Publishing.

Wilberforce, T., El-Hassan, Z., Khatib, F.N., Al Makky, A., Baroutaji, A., Carton, J.G. and Olabi, A.G., 2017. Developments of electric cars and fuel cell hydrogen electric cars. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 42(40), pp.25695-25734.

Hannan, M.A., Hoque, M.M., Mohamed, A. and Ayob, A., 2017. Review of energy storage systems for electric vehicle applications: Issues and challenges. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 69, pp.771-789.

Coffman, M., Bernstein, P. and Wee, S., 2017. Electric vehicles revisited: a review of factors that affect adoption. Transport Reviews, 37(1), pp.79-93.

Nykvist, B. and Nilsson, M., 2015. Rapidly falling costs of battery packs for electric vehicles. Nature climate change, 5(4), pp.329-332.

Parveen, H. and Showkat, N. 2017. Data collection. Available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319128325_Data_Collection

Sileyew, K. 2019. Research design and methodology. Available at https://www.intechopen.com/online-first/research-design-and-methodology

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