Gas to Electric Automobiles
Many advances have been made in the technology of automobiles. From Henry Ford’s first
prototype car (the Quadricycle) to the modern-day fully electric cars such as the Tesla. By examining the
evidence, history and issues surrounding the automobile and discussing current actions being taken, this
essay will argue for a need to make the transformation from gas to electric cars and why this would
benefit the environment, the United States, and the owners monthly expenses on gas and maintenance; In
order to assert change, I will look for an opportunity to promote advocacy to the Minnesota Senate and
make the recommendation that a higher percentage of vehicles should be made electric.
The first gasoline run automobile was invented by a German engineer named Karl Benz. In 1886,
Benz invented the Motorwagon. Ten years later, Henry Ford’s vision was to create an affordable car for
the average consumer. His goal was to mass produce these cars in a way which was safe and affordable.
When Henry Ford first took his Quadricycle for a spin on June 4th 1896, it ran successfully for a few
blocks before it stalled from ignition problems downtown in front of a taunting crowd. This did not
discourage Ford, in fact he was overjoyed. After years of hard work, he had built a working automobile.
Ford’s invention even caught the eye of famous inventor Thomas Edison at a convention in New York
City, and Edison encouraged the young engineer to keep working on his vehicle: “That’s the thing! Keep
at it!” Edison advised. Now after many years of innovation and technological advances, automobile
companies have produced cars which run solely on electricity and one of the companies leading this
transition is Tesla. The Tesla Motors company is named after the famous inventor and engineer Nikola
Tesla. Tesla has expressed a very simple, however challenging goal: To design a fully electric car that
looks cool, has efficient mileage, and is fun to drive. So far, they’ve succeeded by designing their first
car: The Model S. The Tesla Model S is a car which performs much like a gasoline super car would. It
can travel from 0-60 mph in an astonishing 4.2 seconds although without one key characteristic every gas
car has and every Model S doesn’t, emissions. Every day millions of cars push out harmful emissions
from their exhaust which is a result of combustion (the mixture of gas with oxygen) yet the Model S
requires no gas to operate which means no combustion and no emissions. Emissions actually became
such a problem in California that smog began to appear everywhere so the California Air Resources
Board formulated a mandate in 1998 which required all six major car brands sell two percent of their
vehicles as Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEV), increasing to five percent in 2001 and ten percent in 2003.
Tesla also had to factor in the emissions made from the factories producing the electricity powering their
vehicles although they still found t...
