Michael Scott

Professor Hunt

ENG 1201.507

September 7, 2019

Research Proposal

The question I am proposing is whether having all electric transportation is viable in the

United States. Why ask this? As electric vehicles become more prevalent in our everyday life, I

couldn’t help but to wonder what it would be like if everyone in the U.S. owned an electric

vehicle. Electric vehicles are generally seen in a positive light, but I can’t help but to wonder if

there really would be a benefit to going all electric, since most electricity produced in the United

States comes from non-renewable resources. I am an automotive enthusiast who loves loud, fast,

and more importantly, generally “bad for the environment” cars. I am curious to dive deeper into

the Electric car debate.

Personally, I believe that Electric cars are inherently good for the environment, although

they have drawbacks that are often overlooked. These drawbacks include the fact that all electric

cars use lithium-ion batteries which have limited use and are extremely harsh to the environment

to produce and recycle. These batteries also typically have a life of only 5-10 years, meaning that

either the car owner must replace the battery, which is insanely expensive, or buy a new car. This

problem I feel will lead to an even worse case of “planned obsolescence” or Americans trend of

throwing things away before trying to fix them.

 Finally, there are many things I must learn before reaching a firm conclusion on this

subject. I need to know exactly how much power an electric car needs to be charged, versus how

many drivers there are in the United States. I also need to learn more about our power supply and

whether our electrical infrastructure can handle millions of cars charging at night. I will also

consider the amount of power produced by non-renewable resources such as coal and other fossil

fuels. I hope that, in my findings, I will learn the answer to my proposal. Are electric cars really

the future? Can a switch to all electric save us in our fossil fuel crisis? Or is our dependence on

fossil fuels too intravenous to our society to cut off completely? I hope to find answers to all

these questions and possibly more that may arise as I dive deeper into this topic.