While the world hails the arrival of electric cars as an alternative for the gas-guzzlers that threaten our very existence, a group of researchers from the University of Texas believes that it may not be the right time to celebrate the arrival of electric cars for the flaws are many. Especially, the part that these electric cars consume a relatively larger amount of water worries the team the most.
The situation isn’t alarming for alternatives are available but the reality remains that the manufacturers of electric vehicles should take the large water consumption of the Electric Vehicles into account, especially in areas where the surface water is less. In such areas, such cars could turn out to be a curse than a blessing, as most of us see them.
Carey King from the University of Texas along with a group of colleagues revealed that cars, light trucks and SUV’s running on the grid consume three times more water and withdraw seventeen times more water per mile than the ones running on gasoline. The conclusions aren’t really disheartening, for the researchers offer solutions which if adopted could take care of the drawback of high water consumption.
Dry- Cooling could be one of the solutions where forced air is used to cool the steam instead of the water used in EVs. The disadvantage in this case though would be the higher cost involved in setting up a plant to push through the forced air. The other alternative could be switching to renewable sources of energy, which again would require a different set up all together.
The bottom line is that the EVs are still in the development phase and to hail them as the saviours of the environment at this stage isn’t a correct notion. Agreed that they will not pollute the air but then what about the rate at which water is consumed by such vehicles, add to that the diminishing water resources, manifold problems become evident. The development of EVs should be such that they are touted to save the earth without harming it in any possible comportment.
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[Courtesy: Abcnews]
