What are the benefits and drawbacks of using electricity to power a car?

Answer 1

The benefits include:

Reduced operating cost (Approx. 80% cheaper to "refuel" than a gas car)

Low noise

Simpler and fewer mechanical components

Arguably, reduced maintenance cost, and increased reliability could be included as benefits, but both claims are debatable.

During normal use, the only parts on an electric car that should need periodic replacement are the tires, brake pads, and batteries, however the cost is a point of debate due to the high price of replacing the batteries normally found in electric cars.

Also reliability, while as a whole is normally better on an electric, is still influenced by chance. You can get lucky with a trouble-free gas car, and unlucky with a finicky electric.

The drawbacks, for the time being are mostly focused on range of driving, and recharge time, essentially limiting how far you can drive every day. Most (non-hybrid) electric cars have a (maximum) range of less than 40 miles between charges (Though some manufacturers recently are starting to suggest close to 100), and should not be driven more than about 70% of their maximum range to prevent premature failure of the batteries. Also driving up hills drains power very, very quickly, and can shorten the time between charges up to 50% on unfavorable roads.

The other drawback is the time it takes to charge it back up. A gas car, when out of fuel can be refilled in a few minutes by pumping more fuel into the tank, an electric car takes between 4 and 8 hours to charge on a normal house-hold outlet. Some cars can be equipped with special chargers to charge them up quicker, (1-2 hours) but those normally cannot be plugged into a normal outlet, and instead require special installation in the garage where they will be kept.