Ok, I'll have a go at giving my input, though I may not be answering quite the question you think you're asking!
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Q1: How beneficial can electric cars be for someone who lives in an area where most of the energy comes from a nonrenewable resource?
I assume this might refer to e.g. someone living on an island without connection to the UK's grid? Benefits can be financial, health, convenience/reliability, ... .Financial? Assuming the electricity is created from say 100% diesel generator, it's going to end up using similar amounts of diesel to generate a similar number of miles for an Ev that a diesel powered car would have done. But the great thing is that if you have access to renewables, you can make efficient use of electricity generated that way. E.g. I do 6k miles p.a using electricity, and my 4 kW solar panels have enough capacity to supply that and more, averaged over the year. In summer I export more to other people than I import in the dark winter months, so this is reducing the nonrenewable demand. The more we do electrical miles, the less need for petrol tankers driving around, fewer oil wells with their attendant problems (Deepwater Horizon anyone?).
Is this location very hilly? Evs are brilliant in such places, as they recover a very large percentage of energy that a petrol.diesel car will lose when braking down a steep hill. Descending from Shap on A6 down to Kendal, I regenrated 15 miles range in my Ev - all the ICE cars infront were braking all the way down, losing all the energy they'd put into climbing up in the first place.
Healthwise? Surely it's better to produce combustion pollution in a place it can be kept away from dense habitations. About the worst place to burn hydrocarbons is in the middle of a crowded city, and right down at ground level where all the todlers in their prams are. Noise reductions should also be welcomed - it's been shown that birds living in cities have to sing/tweet more loudly htan their country relatices, hust to ge themselves heard. Maybe we can look forwards to a quieter, more pleasant country soon.
Convenience-wise? Evs don't stall on hill starts! Easy to drive, and you don't pay any ultra-high fuel consumption penalty for doing frequent short trips, unlike ICE cars where the engine's inefficient until it's warmed up nicely after a few miles. If you're able to charge up at home, you don't need to make trips to petrol stations, you just refill at home overnight. Forthcoming Evs with better range than previously will obviously be a big help here.
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Q2: What has the impact of electric cars been so far? Are there any apparent examples of that?
I'd say, it's been Tesla's success in making & marketing a viable car which has give all the other automakers a right jolt (to put it mildly!) and got hem quaking in their boots. They are all now rushing to carch up, though some are making a bit of a hash of it. Where's a decent Ev from Ford? Given up, concentating on large Suv/wagons in USA. Where's GM? Bolt is good, but hardly seen outside USA, and volume production is nowhere. Where's Toyota? Lost the plot, concentrating on Hydrogen FCEVs. Where Honda? No idea, I thought Ford did some deal with them...
Examples? See Norway, where over 50% of new car registrations are for Evs. Yes, there are subsidies in place to encourage Evs over ICE cars, and Norway has a lot of electricity produced cleanly, so it's an ideal place for Evs.
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Q3: What to an extent does the environmental impact of the manufacturing of the batteries weigh out the benefits?
I think you meant "To what extent does...outweigh the benefits?" . Hard to say I think. I believe the benefits of batteries in cars actually outweighs to cost of their manufacture. Studies suggest the total CO2 impact of EVs is larger than ICE cars at he point of sale, but by the time the car has done a large mileage, then it catches up and ends up generating less CO2 during it's lifetime. Then yo have to consider that solar-powered (like mine) & renewably-powered EVs will catch up even sooner. Also, there should be a market for supposedly worn-out EV batteries (70% capacit left), so potentially they can benefit us over & beyond just the lifetime of the car they're in. This 2nd life isn't yet a develped industry, but the batteries will soon be appearing in enough quantities to drive it, and any CO2 saving they may contribute to (e.g load balancing the grid) will help reduce net CO2 production.
This battery tech is changing fast, and improving. Tesla plan to make their batteries to last a million miles. This all comes down to how many cycles the battery can be made to last. There is battery technology out there with a virtually infinite lifespan - look up Edison Nickel-Iron batteries (Ni-Fe) if you like. Drawback of those is they weigh an awful lot, so totally unsuitable for vehicles! Overall I'd say that while batteries may be damanding of rare supplies (e.g. Cobalt), the tech will improve and there's every chance of future tech reducing the need for these hugely, or even eliminating it altogether.
Q4: Since electric cars are inherently more environmentally friendly than their internal combustion counterparts, how do you think that the manufacturers are going to reduce the emissions to make it even more efficient and eco-friendly?
What emissions are you referring to here? Factory emissions? Emissions from hybrid cars? I don't really understand this question. But I'll venture this: Mfrs of conventional petrol/diesel cars are going to see their market collapse, unless they adapt to producing pure EVs. But there will still be a market for hybrids, as it will be a very long time before the countries in huge continents like Africa have enough electrical infrastructure in place to make EVs viable for long distance travel. Even parts of UK are Ev deserts in effect, unless you have a Tesla! Larger range EVs will make UK distances easily dealt with, so I see petrol & diesel cars dying here very soon.factory emissions? Tesla have a huge bank of solar panels on the roof of their factory, so that's an emission reduction if yo like. My solar panels came from Germany, where the factory that made them is entirely solar powered I believe. Sure there's some emissions invoved with getting the raw materials they buy in, but have no idea what those are.
Q5: Why should people switch to electric cars? And how do they integrate electric cars into their daily life with the limited ranges and restrictions of them?
They shouldn't, unless they can live comfortably with the present limitations. There are very few 2nd hand Evs for under £5000, so if your budget is less than that, don't even consider one. Repairs can be very expensive, so if you can't get special cover for the fancy high voltage electrics, or you can afford an unlikely-but-costly bill once in a while, don't consider on that's out of warranty.
Range is a limitation for many. I've avoided the limited range and poor UK charging infrastructure problem by buying a range-extended Ev - I have 45 miles Ev range for towns/cities so I can drive through those without generating any pollution bar some tyre dust, and I burn petrol in the open countryside. So not perfect, but it's a half-way step, and a considerable improvement on pure petrol travel. Some integrate by having 2 cars, maybe keep the old but low-value diesel for the long trips, and use the short range Ev for all local travel. Some use Nissan's scheme where the dealer will loan you a free petrol car for a few weeks a year if you bought a Leaf from them, something like that anyway. Some may hire a petrol car for those long trips. Some accept that long trips will simply take longer, due to 1/2-hour stops every 70 miles/whatever along the way. The gain is of course the fuel costs are far less than petrol, plus cleaner. Swings & roundabouts.
Charging them is a limitation for many. You really do want your own off-road parkign to make he best of EVs domestic electricity is cheap compared to electricity bought at the Rapid chargers. Dwellers in flats etc are gong to be restricted to either using Rapids, or hunting around the streets looking for a vacant 7 kW charger and hoping they won't have to pay for parking etc.
Mainly it probably comes down to net cost. Am I doing a huge mileage commuting? If so, would it be cheaper buy the more expensive EV but save a shed load of cash filling it with electricity at 1/4 the cost of petrol? You have to do the sums for your own usecase, there's no hard-and-fast rule that covers everyone. I bought my Ev 2nd hand after it lost about 60% of it's value depreciating in the 1st 3 years of it's life, but since then it's been a sought after car, as are most (?all?) 2nd-hand Evs, and depreciaion has been tiny over the 2nd 3 years I've owned it. Has los about 1/3 of what I paid for it, and I've done 42k miles in that time. So it's not easy to predict exactly what your future costs will be, unless maybe you go PCP or some such system
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Phew! time for a glass of wine & relax. Will proofread this tomorrow...
