daily dose - electric car

This is your daily dose of environmental awareness post. This post is all about electric cars.

In the past years, we have seen the increase and decrease of fossil fuel's price, natural gas and oil alike. Who can forget the time when oil prices hike to more than USD200 per barrel. It is then people realize how dependent we are on fossil fuel.

So after that price scare, we have view the world in different ways. We are now considering power that are beyond our wildest dream, things that we could never imagine 15 or 20 years back. Now all are possibility for us to fight our addiction of fossil fuel.

One such way is electric cars. There is only one important thing in an electric car, the battery. Today battery has not change much from the early type of battery, however people rarely see the importance it plays in our daily life.

So if an electric car battery is different, it should give this simple math.

A new battery = affordable, faster, safer, longer distance car.

Seems simple enough, but in reality, it is not. A new battery will always result in a much costlier car. It is shown that people that most aware and worried about the environment is the middle class people, they don't have millions to spend on a car.

Automobile company nowadays doesn't realize about this, and manufacture cars that are not affordable by most of the people. Price is the main issue when purchasing electric car. The range and speed of electric cars have greatly improve.

Example, Mini E from BMW has top speed of 153 km/h with driving range up to 240km. Ideal car for those living in a city.

Another example, Nissan's Leaf, with 117km driving range and top speed of 150km/h.


An example of electric race car, is Tesla Roadster, with top speed of 217km/h, it can go to 317km with a single charge.

There are other issues with electric car, such as, how will charging affect the electric price of our household? Will there be charging station on the road? How much does the cost of changing a battery and how often do you need to change it? But price is always the main issue, if you can make a cheaper car, with the potential of millions of user, shouldn't than the all the other prices drop down?

However, a small automobil company are taking the first step of making an electric car, that are not only safe, fast, but also affordable. Coda's Electric Car is the first electric car, venture by a US entrepreneur with China battery company, to be sold on US ground. The car looks like an average sedan, you can drive around without people looking at you.


The main thing about the car is the price, at about USD40,000, this could be the cheapest electric car ever made yet.

China has been a booming economic power in the past year, there are now the leading power in researching of new renewable energy. They are the number one battery making country, and the number one wind turbine manufacturer in the world. They are realizing how important sustainability is, and the importance of taping into renewable energy, they are taking the first step in making it a reality.

Now, will electric car be a hit in Malaysia? Who knows, it might even be a greater potential here.

Next time, biodiesel, fuel of the future?