Electric Vehicles are playing a vital role in the future of the automotive industry and are highly competitive with both hydrogen based vehicles such as hydrogen internal combustion engines and hydrogen fuel cells. Electri vehicles are also very competitive with more green fuels such as bio-diesel and ethanol.

It was interesting that back in the very early 1900’s when vehicles began to become mainstream, that the electric vehicle was outselling the petrol engined vehicles. With no emissions, a quiet and smooth ride, and not having to crank the engine like a petrol vehicle made them a lot more inviting than petrol engined vehicles.

Financially the electric vehicle is a viable product for day to day running of the vehicle, actually running at half the price of the petrol/electric hybrid and nearly one quarter of the price per km of the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle and the conventional petrol engined vehicle.

The emissions of the vehicles can also be brought down to zero if using green power such as wind or solar based generators. Although even with the dirty coal burning techniques currently used to generate power, the emissions are half that of the petrol combustion engine, and nearly a quarter of the hydrogen fuel cell, while only slightly cleaner than the petrol electric hybrid.

There are some political issues though, with many ex-chairmen of oil and automotive companies at the helm of the George W Bush administration, it is quite pushed that electric vehicles and other renewable energy sourced vehicles don’t make their mainstream debut anytime soon.

For the future of the automotive industry, it is vital to stay ahead of the technological changes and be a forefront player in the renewable energy source market. Developing an electric vehicle whether it be solely electric or a petrol electric hybrid, at least some change or offset from the dependency on fossil fuelled engines would allow the company to grow and prosper while staying competitve.