Go Go Green Cars

Some people don’t realize that it was Chrysler that introduced the very first modern electric vehicle to market in the United States. It was produced in 1992 and called the Chrysler TEVan. There were very few made and were very expensive. They had extremely high battery and component costs and the price range was around $100,000. So needless to say; they did not sell very well.

Chrysler was seriously involved in designing high technology for electric cars and test marketing an electric minivan. However, the merger with Daimler all but stopped the efforts Chrysler was making in the electric drive development. Chrysler did make an electric concept van in 1992 the Electric Power Inter-Urban Commuter or EPIC for short. The EPIC concept had nickel iron batteries.

Chrysler was also trying to create a viable 4door mid size electric vehicle through a program they called Destiny. It used light weight materials and an AC induction motor. It turned out not to be a viable option so they tried other approaches.

Since the mid 1990’s Chrysler has sold more than 35,000 low speed GEM neighborhood electric vehicles worldwide. The GEM is not a full function vehicle and is suited for specific uses. Its top speed is 25mph and allowed only on streets with speed limits of 35mph or less.

Now that Chrysler is no longer part of DaimlerChrysler they have renewed their efforts to develop and market electric cars. They recently unveiled three electric drive concept vehicles. They include an all electric Dodge sports car and a range extended electric version of the Jeep Wrangler and Chrysler Town & Country minivan. All of these vehicles use lithium-ion batteries. Chrysler has said that they will move beyond the concept stage and will market one of these vehicles in 2

Driving a car is a necessity in today’s society, but it also produces air pollution that is harmful to humans as well as our natural resources. The average car burns about 98 tons of fossil fuel. Fossil fuels are non renewable because they can’t be regenerated fast enough to keep up with the high demand of human consumption.

Your carbon footprint is the amount of deadly greenhouse gases which are measured in units of carbon dioxide. The Duke University conducted a study and over 97 million billion pounds of carbon dioxide was released into the air from fossil fuels in just one year.

A green vehicle will cut down on this problem and minimize your carbon footprint. When someone refers to a green car they are talking about a car that uses alternative fuel sources. A regular car uses petroleum fuel to run this is also known as fossil fuel. Fossil fuels are what is known as non renewable energy and releases harmful gases into the air. A green car uses other fuel sources which include bio-diesel, solar energy or electricity to run the car.

There are other benefits to driving a green vehicle besides helping to decrease greenhouse gases. They are cheaper to run and maintain. They do not contribute to acid rain and create less smog in the air. A green car is better for our environment and reduces global warming.

Others ways to decrease the greenhouse gases that are cause by driving vehicles that are not eco-friendly is to not drive at all whenever possible. You can walk whenever it is feasible and get exercise and help the earth at the same time. Sharing a ride is another way to help cut down on our carbon footprint.

Green cars are considered the “wave of the future” because of the way they are changing our thinking about what we drive. The green car concept makes everyone more aware of the environment and what we can do to help erase our carbon footprint.