Electric cars will have a profound impact on the society we live in and therefore the way people perceive mobility. The transition to electric mobility is much more than an industrial revolution where the interior combustion engine is replaced by an electrical motor and battery.
In this section is shown the main impact that electric cars have on society. Look at some of the social challenges that come with the introduction of electric vehicles.
Protecting public values and interests
At the very highest level, important values are located, like human dignity and therefore the equality of individuals. For instance, access to electricity and clean drinking water is important for all members of society. These services reflect basic needs. These services are increasing through infrastructure networks. Governments may prefer to organize the availability of those essential services as a public monopoly, but they will also prefer to involve a competitive economic process.
Mobility as a service
Like electricity and drinking water supply, mobility is important for everybody and each business. Businesses depend upon the transport of individuals and goods, and individual citizens must be ready to move around to participate in society and therefore the economy.
Participation in society requires a connection. That doesn’t mean that everyone has ownership of a car. It does mean, however, that government provides the road network needed to move around in your city, between cities and regions and, across national borders, which provides means of affordable conveyance for those that cannot afford or choose to not have a car of their own.
Critical social challenges
The question is how governments could solve this unfolding industrial revolution. How can they make sure that it’ll benefit society as an entire, and what aspects need specific attention?
Two aspects stand out here: the aspects of cyber-security and privacy. While autonomous taxis offer great potential to scale back the number of road accidents, self-driving cars are involved in accidents.
Cybersecurity risks are equally relevant for non-autonomous electric vehicles. Electric vehicles can, to an outsized extent, be considered computers on wheels. Cybersecurity breaches obviously pose great risks for road safety, and that they bring privacy risks.
The info exchange that comes with the charging of electrical vehicles, whether at public charging stations or home. This invades the users’ privacy and must, therefore, be subject to strict obligations of private data protection.
The intensity of knowledge exchange increases if the charging process is subject to demand response schemes. These schemes are providing flexibility to the electrical power grid. Also, increase the danger of potential privacy breaches.
The aspects of privacy and cybersecurity will only become more important to global companies. Uber and Google sit on the info that we generate with our mobility patterns. The question that has not been adequately addressed yet by most governments around the world is one of data ownership.
At this stage of the mobility revolution, governments are still acting within the dominant paradigm of personal car ownership. They are still struggling to vary the well-liked choice of the car towards electric vehicles transition. The governments must, therefore, see, if the support infrastructure for road mobility is timely perfect. This because only with a fine-meshed infrastructure for public charging will potential electric vehicle owners lose their range anxiety.
Social Acceptance Of Electric Cars
All in all, the value of an electrical car – and therefore the privacy and cybersecurity risks that accompany – are balancing by the user with the private benefits. These could also be immaterial, like a cleaner conscience for not polluting the air while driving, or they’ll be material, in terms of cost savings on the acquisition costs and therefore the costs of use.
On the one hand, a car may be a functional thing, a way for mobility, and most people will, to some extent, attempt to find a balance between cost and performance. If the performance is much behind the performance of conventional cars on a feature that you simply think is vital, you’re probably not willing to pay more for an electrical vehicle than you’d be willing to buy a standard car.
For many people, the car is an expression of individuality, an expression of private values, or an expression of status, by which they struggle to differentiate themselves from others. By buying an electrical vehicle, others might want to precise that they’re cool and innovative.
environmental impact
The environmental impact of electric cars depends on how the electricity used to power them is generated. If the electricity is generated from renewable sources such as wind or solar, then the environmental impact can be significantly lower than gasoline-powered cars. However, if the electricity is generated from fossil fuels, the environmental impact can be similar or even worse.
impact on oil industry
As for the impact of electric cars on the oil industry, the widespread adoption of electric cars could lead to a decrease in demand for gasoline and therefore a reduction in the demand for crude oil. This could result in a significant impact on the oil industry, particularly on oil-producing countries whose economies heavily rely on oil exports. However, the oil industry is expected to adapt by increasing production of other petroleum-based products, such as plastics and chemicals, which are not directly impacted by the rise of electric cars.