Green cars the hot new topic

The climate is changing rapidly, why are we not changing our driving modes and vehicles?

I happen to hear the term ‘green car’ more and more as the years go by. Tons of articles have been written on this hot new topic. Moreover, a lot of people seem to appreciate this healthier for our environment option. Nevertheless, it feels like not a lot of people actually change their vehicles to green cars. The ones that do buy green cars are actually thinking of selling them. They want to go back to the old driving modes consisting of gas guzzlers.

Why is this happening? Aren’t we quite convinced that green cars are the right choice since the climate is changing? Are we afraid of change? Or are we just not ready yet to switch to green cars? Below are some of the reasons why green cars are not that popular among us. Keep reading to find out more.

Reason no 1: “Green cars are too expensive.”

How many times have you heard that green cars are way too expensive? Too many times, I bet. Maybe you are one of those people that still think green cars are expensive. Don’t feel bad. Most people think the same anyway.  According to The Huffington Post, in a survey by AutoTrader.com, people were asked about the main reasons why they would or wouldn’t consider buying alternative-fuel vehicles.

“Seventy percent of those surveyed said “better fuel economy” is a reason for purchasing an alternative-fuel vehicle. Seems logical, right? Yet when it comes to hybrids and plug-in hybrids, about 70 percent of those surveyed selected “too expensive to purchase” as their reason against buying a hybrid or plug-in hybrid.”

As you can see, the extra cost of green cars ‘alienates’ people from buying them. Most people don’t even know that by buying a green car now, besides the environment, will save them lots of money in the long run. Even the ones who are aware of this information, don’t really believe that they will be able to get profit in the long run with money saved on fuel.

“Basically, most people don’t want to spend $36,000 on an all-electric Ford Focus. Based on their answers, it seems they’re likely unaware of affordable alt-fuel cars like the Toyota Prius c ($19,080), Honda Insight ($18,725) or Honda CR-Z ($19,995),” according to The Huffington Post.

Reason no 2: “Green cars are not spacious enough.”

Preferences regarding the size of the car vary from people to people. But a lot of people, especially the ones that have a big family, don’t seem to consider switching their spacious and comfortable vehicles for a green car which is relatively smaller. The need for bigger and more comfortable cars makes a lot of people ‘forget’ about the environment. They choose what’s best for them instead of what’s best for the environment.

Reason no 3: “Green cars may not be as ‘green’ as they are supposed to be.”

Many people doubt the fact that green cars are better for the environment. Sometimes they are right. There are green car manufacturers out there that do not use green manufacturing processes. This makes many people doubt the whole market. But until there is a way customers can verify the process of green car manufacturing, people will keep doubting. Eventually, they will end up not purchasing a green car.

Reason no 4: “Green cars make too much noise.” 

Although not all green cars make a lot of noise while on the road, a lot of them do, especially the ones that are less expensive. As I said above, many people do not really ‘care’ about the environment, and if they have to cope with the fact that the greener option also means having to put up with the noise, they will back away and choose what’s best for themselves. They can always choose among makes and modes that don’t make any noises, but then the price tag shows up and you can guess what happens next.

Reason no 5:  “There are not many green cars produced yet.”

While this may not be a strong argument to why people are not buying more green cars, it is a reason why we don’t see more green cars on the road today. The productions of environmentally friendly vehicles is not mass just yet. This directly affects the balance between green cars and “normal” on the road.

According to Wikipedia, “as of June 2015, the number of mass production highway-capable all-electric passenger cars and utility vans available in the market is limited to over 30 models, mainly in the United States, Japan,Western European countries and China. However, the battery price is coming down rapidly and sales are increasing. By May 2015 over 500,000 light-duty electric vehicles have been sold worldwide. As of June 2015, the world’s top selling highway-capable electric car is the Nissan Leaf, released in December 2010 and sold in 46 countries, with global sales of over 180,000 units, followed by the Tesla Model S with over 78,000 units sold since 2012.”

Conclusion

So, these are the five main reasons why we are not lucky enough to see more green cars in use nowadays. Who knows? Maybe in the future people’s opinions will change. Maybe we will be able to witness the big switching to greener modes of transport. But that is unlikely to happen in the near future. So until then, all we can do is raise our own awareness about the damage petrol powered engines are doing to the environment.

If you have any other reasons in mind, please let us know in the comments. Thanks!