Sales of electric vehicle sales are growing, and the U$.$S$.$ federal government is investing in tax credits andinfrastructure to encourage consumers to make the switch from gas$-$powered cars.P H O T O G R A P H B Y D A V I D G U T T E N F E L D E R $,$ N A T G E O I M A G E C O L L E C T I O NB Y K I E R A N M U L V A N E YP U B L I S H E D J U N E $16,20236$ M I N R E A D $(990$ W O R D S $)$Interested in an electric car? Here's what you should knowbefore you buy.The number of electric vehicles purchased in the U$.$S$.$ is projected to skyrocket. Butthe coming revolution still elicits concerns, from drivers' "range anxiety" toenvironmental angst over battery manufacturing.The electric vehicle $($EV$)$ business is booming.Globally, $14$ percent of new cars sold in $2022$ were electric, an increase fromnine percent in $2021$ and just five percent in $2020.$ Through the first quarterof $2023,$ sales were up $25$ percent over the same period last year.The attractions of EVs are clear: they do not run on environmentally taxinggasoline or ethanol. They have zero tailpipe emissions. They are quiet. Theyrequire less maintenance than gas$-$powered vehicles. Some can, in apinch, even provide electricity for your house.But the new wave of EVs is not without its downsides. The batteries thatpower EVs require intensive mining, and the electrical grids juicing up carsare often powered by fossil fuels.Still, manyfrom the federal government to environmental groupssay EVsare the future.Plus, says Fred Lambert, the lead writer for Electrek, a news and commentarysite reporting trends in electric transport, theyre so much more fun todrive.Whos driving EVs?China accounts for $60$ percent of global EV sales, with Europe and the U$.$S$.$the second and third biggest markets respectively, but sales, although small,are also increasing in newer markets such as India, Thailand, and Indonesia.EVs have made a far bigger dent in some countries than others.In Iceland, for example, EVs account for $60$ percent of new car sales, while inNorway that figure is in excess of $80$ percent. In contrast, a mere $4\mathrm{.}6$ percentof new vehicle buyers in the U$.$S$.$ bought EVs in $2022,$ although closer to $20$percent did so in California; but analysts have predicted that in a little over adecade that figure could be more like $45$ percent.How far can they go$?$Not everyone is convinced that EVs are for them.One issue that is frequently cited as a concern is "range anxiety"the fearthat an EV will simply run out of charge during a long journey. That anxietyis exacerbated by too little charging infrastructurethere are about $46,000$charging stations in the US$,$ compared to about $150,000$ gas stationsandsome of those charging stations can be unreliable and prone to malfunctions.However, Tesla has begun the process of opening its superchargers, whichare considered the most reliable, to other EV brands; and the BidenAdministration is providing $$7\mathrm{.}5$ billion for a massive increase in a reliableAmerican charger network.The range of many EVs has also increased: the Lucid Air offers a claimedrange of $500$ miles, while several other options are available with rangescomfortably in excess of $300$ miles.Lambert has successfully driven a Tesla Model $3$ Performance on a road tripthat spanned from Montreal to New Orleans.And I had no problem, never had any range anxiety at all, and that wasalmost $2,500$ miles, he says.Most people, he notes, do not need to drive that far; the average commute inthe U$.$S$.$ is approximately $30$ miles a day.Plus, adds, Jim Motavalli, auto columnist for Barrons, when people buyEVs, theyll find that $85$ percent of their charging is at home anyway. Yourenot actually going to need or want to use public chargers most of the time.Do EVs have an environmental cost?Some studies have shown that manufacturing their batteries and constructingthe cars themselves can create more greenhouse gas emissions than that of atraditional gas$-$powered vehicle.Battery production alone can account for as much as $60$ percent of the totalcarbon emissions in an EVs manufacture. However, the majority of carbonemissions generated by traditional vehicles are a result of the fuel theyconsume over their lifetimes; once they have rolled off dealer lots, a gas$-$powered cars carbon footprint soon greatly exceeds that of an electricvehicle.Electric vehicles also only reach their full sustainable potential when theelectricity powering them comes from renewable energy. In most locations,the electricity used to charge vehicles is generated at least partly by coal orgas.Additionally, there are real concerns about the environmental and humanimpacts of mining components such as lithium for EV batteriesImprovements in mining techniques and battery production could mitigatethese concerns, as well as the development and increased deployment of newbatteries that last longer and hold more charge. Additionally, arguesLambert, the EV battery recycling industry has potential to grow over thecoming years, and new cars could be built with recycled metals.Too many cars on the road?Another criticism is that aiming to replace traditional cars with EVs doesntaddress the fact that there are too many cars and thus too many roads andhighways and too much suburban sprawlan argument with which evenelectric vehicles most ardent defenders tend to agree to with.Unfortunately, EVs dont solve the gridlock problem, says Motavalli.But, as writer Noah Smith notes, transitioning to EVs and reducing sprawlarent mutually exclusive. He argues that, in addition to making suburbiadenser through, for example, changes in housing policy and the developmentof commuter rail, we should take advantage of the EV revolution to addelectrified buses, e$-$bikes, and other alternative modes of transportation tomake suburbs easier to get around.Even with more transportation options, he notes there will still be a lot ofcarscar ownership is high even in densely$-$populated, mass transit$-$richnations such as Japan and the Netherlands. Switching from gas$-$guzzling toelectrified transport not only makes sense, its inevitable, he says.I tell people to go drive one and see for themselves, says Lambert. Do themath. And let your logic take over. When you do$,$ youll always end up withelectric vehicles. It's the more logical solution every time.Instructions: Reflect on the following $3$ areas$\mathrm{.}1.$ Reflect on how electric vehicles $($EVs$)$ impact the Earth and humanity$\mathrm{.}2.$ Reflect on how electric vehicles $($EVs$)$ could impact your life$\mathrm{.}3.$ Would you choose electric vehicles $($EVs$)$ or internal combustion enginevehicles $($ICE$)?$ Provide an explanation for your choice.