Electric vehicles open new avenues for smart cities

As more people around the world move into the cities of tomorrow, the importance of the electric car revolution can't be underestimated.

By 2050, over 70% of the world’s population is expected to be living in a city. Most people look at the city as a crime-riddled space with crawled housing systems and exceptionally little fresh air to breathe, but they often don’t realise that cities can be some of the greenest places to live in. It’s all about how you decrease your carbon footprint on the environment as a human community.

Cities also offer a unique setting for resources, people, opportunities and ideas to converge and spur new avenues of innovation, technology and thought. And with these innovations, we require innovation in technological and urban development to involve a conscious urge to save the environment.

>See also: Cities can only become smarter by utilising connectivity technology

It is expected that the cities of tomorrow will evolve into highly efficient and highly technical habitats for larger populations. The infrastructure necessary for this will include a range of technologies that are used for skyscrapers, personalised public transportation systems, sustainable green spaces, sewage & water treatment, and reclamation infrastructure – just to name a few. These urban spaces are called smart cities.

New technological inventions will be all about how cities are taking advantages of them to increase sustainability and quality of life for its inhabitants.

With the cities accounting for 70% population of the world, the environmental challenges could be daunting. Therefore, smart cities are incorporating the concept of electric vehicles in their development plans.

A growing body of research and demonstration projects can attest to the transformative potential of electric vehicles to enhance the smart grid. If you want to get yourself involved in the transformation process of the world, it is time to consider an electric car. You can also opt for used electric cars, which are cheaper and efficient. Worldwide, smart city initiatives are propelling the vehicle market towards electric cars.

>See also: Smart cities could lead to cost savings of $5 trillion

People are consciously trying to instill sustainability in their own ways by, for example, installing solar panels, maintaining greenhouses, etc. This consciousness of saving the environment is leading to their greater investment in electric cars.

Since the last decade, people have been adopting the idea of alternate fuels for their cars due to their role in the significant reduction of greenhouse gases.  This has led to a rapid growth in electric car sales.

Zero-emission technologies are rapidly maturing within the transportation industry. It is not only beneficial for the environment, but also leads to the lowering of the costs of your car. The batteries come cheaper and last longer. Electric vehicles run at one-third of the cost of a gas-powered vehicle, given that electricity is significantly less expensive than gasoline.

Electric vehicles will be part of a smart mobility ecosystem, along with social networking, traffic management systems, and consumer tools, which help with parking availability and traffic congestion management. These systems will be integrated to create a better driving experience for you while helping reduce CO2 emissions.

>See also: What will the smart city of the future look like?

Incorporating electric vehicles in cities will imply a shift of the energy demand from the oil sector to the electric energy utilities, and hence the development of an adequate recharge infrastructure is needed to meet the electricity demand for electric vehicles. This further leads to upgrading the electricity source to smarter offerings.

Smart cities plan to develop the energy system in such a way that electric vehicles can be charged by locally-produced renewable energy while utilising surplus energy stored in the car batteries.

With the ever-increasing population, travelling from one place to another by car has not only become a tedious task due to lack of parking space and traffic woes, but it has also led to the rise in the number of vehicles. This becomes a great concern for the healthy survival of our future generations. Electric cars offer a solution for the pressing need of saving the environment. So, help out in a greener development of your future and choose an electric car for yourself today.

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Nick Ismail

Nick Ismail is a former editor for Information Age (from 2018 to 2022) before moving on to become Global Head of Brand Journalism at HCLTech. He has a particular interest in smart technologies, AI and...