Electric cars are widely thought to be more environmentally friendly, as they pollute the atmosphere less due to not burning any fossil fuels, and of course contribute far less to greenhouse has emissions. For the crowded urban areas that are suffocated by exhaust fumes, electric cars definitely are the cleaner option. However electric cars are still being criticised for not being as green as advertised, considering that most the electricity in which they need to run is produced by burning coal and other polluting-generation methods.

Over time this is gradually changing, with other countries making it their goal to switch ti more economically-friendly methods of producing energy such as solar and nuclear. However, the agreement against electric cars doesn’t stop there. Even though electric cars are proven to be the most reliable cars that money can buy, they still have their critics – and here are the most common arguments that are often bought up against them.

Poor range

The average electric car can only travel between 80 and 100 miles on a single charge. The only real exception to this is the Tesla model S which can travel up to 220 miles. But Teslas are expensive and the majority of affordable electric cars were not built to be used for long-distance travel. They tend to be small car models with a limited range that are best suited to being used in cities.

The short range on an electric car is great if used for the daily commute or running errande, but for long-term travel they are simply not practical. People who argue against electric cars have coined the term “range anxiety”, which is worry about running our of charge when you’re in the middle of nowhere and therefore miles away from home (or somewhere else to charge your car). Although this is not much different to running out of fuel in a conventional car, it’s still something that works against the concept of electric cars. The trick with an electric car is to use your car for the journey that you intend to and ensure that it is fully charged and ready to go before you set out.

Long charging time

Nowadays you can pull into a service station, fill your car with petrol and diesel, and be off the forecourt in less than five minutes. Charging the battery of your electric vehicle can take far longer than this. In most cases your car has plenty of time to charge as you can plug it in when you arrive at home and charge it overnight. But what happens if you intend on going on a longer roadtrip where you won’t be at home (see above). This is something that is still under development right now when it comes to electric cars.

Across the pond, Tesla’s supercharge network will allow you to charge an 85kWh battery from 0 to 100% in 75 minutes – the time it would take for a family of four to have a nice spot of lunch.  When it comes to other electric cars which are considerably smaller and therefore have much more limited charging capacities, it’s not expected to take them out too far from home as they take considerably longer to charge.

Limited choice

Today, there is an ever-increasing range of electric vehicle available to buy on the brand new car market. However when compared to traditional cars there is far less choice and variety. The more affordable electric cars are small and have a much more limited range, while those with a higher range tend to be in the luxury category and will cost an absolute fortune to buy. You only have to look back 100 years ago in history with the introduction to Ford’s model T, which was being used when the majority of people were still using horses and carriages to get around. Back in the day, only a select few could afford to buy an automobile.

This is remarkably similar to the situation that we have today. Electric vehicles are at the beginning of their journey, and as such only a select few can afford to own one, while the rest of us still drive around in our old fossil-fuel burning clunkers. But over time this will change as battery development and other technological advances bring down the cost of electric motoring, which means that it will appeal to a larger spectrum of people. This is when the competition and the choice will come in, and before we know it almost all fossil fuel-powered cars will have been replaced with something clean and electric.