Top 6 Challenges Faced by Electric Vehicle Technology

Much development is needed to find batteries with higher energy and longer life and to bring down costs if we want the EVs to compete successfully with conventional vehicles.
The major challenges faced by EVS are as explained below:

Table of Contents

1. Range and batteries :

The main problem with electric vehicles is the batteries they use for energy storage.
With the current battery technology, the distance an electric car can travel before its battery is fully discharged is limited.
The present electric vehicles have a range of 80 to 160 km only which makes them suitable only for city driving.
This range is about one-fifth of what can be easily realized with a gasoline engine-powered vehicle.
Therefore the customers of EVs are forced to rely on public charging points.
The number of charging stations is increasing still it is no way comparable with the convenience of the petrol stations and their density.

And accessories, such as air-conditioning or music system drain the battery even more rapidly.
Another drawback with the current battery technology is that their life span is only about 2-3 years.
Batteries have a large weight. They typically account for one-third or more of the vehicle weight, which makes the EV heavy and less efficient.
The high capital cost of batteries is also a drawback.
A breakthrough in battery technology is required if all these drawbacks are to be overcome to make electric vehicles compete with petrol or diesel vehicles.

A majority of the EV owners usually charge their cars batteries at home during the night when they are not using the car.
As the consumption of electricity is low at night is low, the charging at night allows for efficient use of electricity.
However, not everyone has the facility of parking in a garage. Many people park their cars in the street.
It takes about 6-7 hrs to charge the battery fully.
This charging time is another major challenge faced by EVs. because the charging time is too long as compared to refueling time for diesel/petrol vehicles.
This issue can be solved with the use of the rapid chargers
With improvement in the battery types and battery technologies, the concerns regarding driving range and charging time will get reduced.

Electric cars cannot accelerate cruise and climb fast enough as compared to gasoline-powered cars.

The purchase price of any electric car is generally far too high as compared to any other conventional vehicle from the same class.
The main reason for the high price of electric cars is mainly their battery price.

The general perception among people is that EVs are not safe.
Present EVs incorporate many safety features like the steel space frame side impact beams dent-proof body panels low voltage systems and dual braking systems.
All these features lead to a very high level of safety and reliability.
All EVs of the latest generations are as safe and reliable as their gasoline engine counterparts.

Many customers fear that without any warning their EV may run out of charge in the middle of their journey.
To counter this problem many EVs incorporated a number of the warning system.