According to the BBC news, worldwide, there are now more than 830 million cars on the road. Can you believe that in the European Union (EU) a fifth of total carbon dioxide emissions happens because of the road transportation. Every single vehicle which has petroleum-based transportation infrastructure contributes to air pollution in many ways.

Sustainable transportation comes to the stage in this kind of environment. What is really a Sustainable transportation?  According to the earthtimes.org, Sustainable Transport is sometimes known as Green Transport and it is any form of transport that does not use or rely on dwindling natural resources. Instead it relies on renewable or regenerated energy rather than fossil fuels that have a finite life expectancy. For this reason, it is said to have a low or a negative effect on the environment since it makes use of energy sources that are sustainable.

Someone could say walking, cycling and sailing are the only transport medias which comes under this definition. Luckily we have got some other good options thankfully to modern technology.

Electric vehicle is one of them.

What is really an electric vehicle? Most probably all of you might have heard of Tesla, it is the world's first premium electric sedan. According to the wikipedia.org, electric vehicle uses one or more electric motors or traction motors for propulsion. And it may be powered through a collector system by electricity from off-vehicle sources, or may be self-contained with a battery or generator to convert fuel to electricity. Electric vehicles include not only road and rail vehicles, surface and underwater vessels, but there are electric aircraft and electric spacecraft too.

So how an electric vehicles differ from fossil fuel-powered vehicles? The electricity EV s consume can be gained from a variety of sources. It is true that it can be gained from fossil fuels, but it also can generate from renewable sources such as tidal power, solar power, and wind power or any combination of those.

I have mentioned above that there are now more than 830 million cars on the road. The researchers have predicted that if the present trend of vehicle using continues, the number will double in the next 30 years.

So what will the demand for oil? It will be doubled too. But what about fossil fuel which use to run these vehicles? Fossil fuel is a type of natural fuel, such as coal or gas. And it has been formed in the geological past from the remains of living organisms. So surely we will come to the scarcity of fossil fuels. And we have to go for another environmental healthy options to run our vehicles. That?s  where electric vehicles and other new technologies come to the scene.

Electric vehicles range from pure plug-in battery-powered ones to hybrids - conventional cars with some element of electric power. After Toyota's Prius enters the market there are growing number of other manufacturers who try to catch up with this electric vehicle technology.

But there are some draw backs with these EV s. Since EV s have to be charged to run we will be needing enough charging points installed around the countries. When considering European and other developed countries this isn?t an issue but when it comes to developing countries this is a major issue. But we could come up with solutions to this matter.

Another reason people avoid buying EV s is, not having sufficient range. But Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) spokesman Keith Lewis refuse this statement arguing, given that "most people drive less than 30 miles a day".

And importantly we know that EV s are expensive than regular vehicles. If the motor companies prioritize manufacturing of electric vehicles and also if we could make a trend of buying EV s more, eventually the price will reduce.

Technology is moving rapidly and I believe that the researcher will find new ways to avoid these issues. As greener person we could do some important things for greener transportation. We could use public transportation as many as possible, so the number of private vehicles on the road will be less. We could start using bicycles to travel, then we could improve our health and also could save environment. Also if we could walk shorter distances that?ll be great too. And maybe next time you or your parents going for a new vehicle you could suggest an electric vehicle too.

Maybe it'll be a very small step towards greener tomorrow. But if you could do at least small thing, just go for it because only we, humans are the savior of our mother Earth?

 

References:

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-27327540

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_transport

http://www.earthtimes.org/encyclopaedia/environmental-issues/sustainable-transport/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_vehicle