Ford, Volkswagen, Toyota, and Audi, are just a few of the many Car companies that have made big promises for the future of automobiles. This change will impact vehicles and the drivers driving them in the near future.

This change is switching from gasoline-powered engines to completely electric automobiles as soon as 2025

This switch from gasoline to electricity started as an industry-wide effort to contribute less Greenhouse Emissions to the environment.

At least 12 automobile companies have already promised fully electric cars by 2025 with that number is growing every day.

One question has arisen with the discussion of Electric Automobiles: “Are they that much better for the environment?” asks SHS Sophomore Julian Mcenery.

The most obvious answer would be yes since Gas-powered automobiles take a lot of energy to produce on top of using Steel, Rubber, glass, plastic, paint, and more which isn’t good for the environment.

Plus with gas emissions adding more and more pollution to the Planet, electricity must be the way to go, right?

Not exactly, even though EVs (The industry term for electric cars)  overall have a smaller Carbon footprint than gasoline-powered vehicles. Their batteries are where the issues with electric cars start.

The Lithium in Lithium batteries used in these vehicles isn’t inherently toxic but nickel or cobalt-based lithium batteries have some of the highest environmental impacts.

Resource depletion, ecological toxicity, and health impacts for humans and wildlife are the main concerns regarding these batteries. But these problems are being fixed and if owners of these vehicles recycle the batteries after use, most of these problems will vanish.

“I feel it’s too fast of a push, we need to improve tech before a full push to electric,” said Julian regarding this topic

This point of view is shared by most mechanics and people in the automotive industry like UTI Automotive Student Mark Lopez