When it comes to automotives, the one certainty is that there are so many variables, differences, that each and every experience with a different car is strikingly unique and yet overwhelmingly familiar. It is, in many ways, the ultimate paradox. Being behind the wheel of V8 supercars, for example, is a different experience than driving a Hyundai Getz. And while the two experiences differ individually, they are somehow familiar in comparison to one another. Now, thanks to technological advancement and rapid digitalisation, we are seeing the beginnings of what is going to be known as the electric revolution in automotives. The automotive industry has experienced its fair share of transitions over time, but the introduction of electric models to the roads is perhaps its most bold transition ever. But why?
The automotive industry is one of the most important in all the world. Quite simply, cars have become our most popular and familiar mode of transport. While the concept for the modern car was crafted from the invention of the wheel, it has ballooned to become far more than a single wheel. These days, cars are four wheels that carry multiple tones of metal and machinery. And now, again, the concept is ballooning to move into its next natural stage of progression. That stage is the electric vehicle. The electric vehicle is still a relatively new concept to the public, but it has been in development for years now. And now, we are seeing the first fleets of electric vehicles finding their way to the streets, beginning the tidal change to electric vehicles, and away from cars run on fossil fuels.
The concept of electric vehicles is exhilarating in itself, but the pioneers bringing the concept to exciting life are something else altogether. Car manufacturers like Tesla are reimagining what it means to drive a car, and they are bringing that imagination to life. And that emerging vision is something that is gaining more and more attention as the days carry on. In 2017 alone, for example, nearly 200,000 electric vehicles were sold in the United States alone. This is an incredible mark-up from the year before, when the interest in electric vehicles was low key, mildly curious at best. The advantages of electric vehicles are numerous, but the two biggest shifts in mindset and approach are economic and environmental shift.
The facts are simple. Traditional cars run on fossil fuels, thus causing substantial negative impact on the environment. Additionally, obtaining the fuel in the first place is a costly process, which leads to higher costs for individuals as they fill up their tanks at gas stations. Electric vehicles are more cost-efficient (having eliminated the necessity of spending money on gas every time the tank empties), and more environmentally positive (having decimated the need for fossil fuels to run our modes of transport). The future of automotives is definitively electric, and the models that companies like Tesla are testing now are just the beginning of a very long and healthy approach to automotives.