Simmons 1

Nick Simmons
10/22/15
Rogers
Period 2
Mock Congress Research Paper
Cars release approximately 333 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere
annually, which is 20 percent of the world's total (Jacob, 2015). One of the biggest forms of
pollution in America comes from cars. In 2013, transportation represented approximately 27
percent of total U.S. pollution (EPA, 2015). Cars produce nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide and
carbon dioxide. These pollutants can cause health issues in humans, including death. These
pollutants are also burning a hole through the ozone which is a factor of global warming. Three
methods that can help reduce car pollution in the U.S. are producing more electric cars, making
electric cars more suitable for longer distance drives and creating an extra lane for electric cars
only.
One of the methods that can help reduce car pollution in the U.S. is producing more
electric cars. Electric cars themselves dont produce any pollutants. Energy for making the cars
can come from natural sources such as solar energy and wind turbines which in the process of
producing electricity create relatively little pollution. By having an electric car you are saving
yourself an abundance of money by not having to pay for gas and they are easier and cheaper to
maintain. Of the 8 million cars sold in the U.S. in 2014 only 55 thousand were electric, which is

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less than one percent (Plumer, 2014). Since over 99 percent of the cars emit pollution, more
electric cars need to replace gas cars. One way to help that process would be to have enough
cars to meet demand. For example, Tesla has a waiting time of 1-3 months from the date of
order (Tesla, 2014), which is a contributing factor to the problem. Half the battle of putting more
electric cars on the road is having enough electric vehicles available to meet the demand.
Another method that can help reduce car pollution in the U.S. is making electric cars
more suitable for longer distance drives. As of now, electric cars are more suitable for short
drives and commutes. As a commuter you would use the car to get to and from work and then
leave it on the charger overnight and have no problem. One of the reasons why people dont buy
electric cars is because of long distance driving. Typically on an empty car battery it takes
around 8-16 hours to recharge (NRG, 2014). If driving long distances it would be very
inconvenient to have to wait 8-16 hours before getting back on the road. On a single charge an
electric car can get around 100 miles in normal conditions (Conway, 2011). If you have to
charge every 100 miles for 8 hours, your trip that would take three hours now can take up to a
couple days. To make electric cars more suitable for long distance drives they must make the
cars have better mileage and much better recharge times.
The third method that can help reduce car pollution in the U.S. is by creating an extra
lane for electric cars only. Implementing an extra lane for electric only cars would be in highly
populated areas on the freeways. By doing so it would make an incentive for people to by
electric cars to avoid traffic. We know it works because there was a carpool lane implemented.
With the carpool lane they included hybrid cars, it was so successful that they had to stop

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allowing new hybrid cars to be able to use the carpool lanes. In 2004 there were 85,000 hybrid
cars sold and in 2005 when hybrid cars were allowed in the carpool lane, the number of cars
nearly tripled with 210,000 cars sold in the U.S. (Motavalli, 2013). Although it cannot be proven
until tried, it would likely be the same result. Already having an increase of electric car sales of
27 percent in just one year, having an extra lane for traffic would give people another reason to
buy the cars (Voelcker, 2015). From previous experience with hybrid cars, electric cars are on
the same path.
Two arguments against promoting electric cars are while creating the extra lane it would
cause pollution and to create the car battery they must mine for rare minerals which also creates
pollution. A lot goes into making an electric car battery including toxic materials. The materials
needed for making an extra lane arent to ecofriendly either including cement, tar and the use of
gas powered machinery. Excavation of the rare minerals causes adverse effects on the
environment including pollution (Evarts, 2013). Although it is an electric car, there are a lot of
behind the scenes that most people dont know about. Just some of the chemicals that take part
in construction of a new road include herbicides, insecticides, oils, gasoline, degreasers,
antifreeze, concrete and asphalt (EPA, 2015). All of those put together make a pretty bad
mixture of pollutants. Even though electric cars seem to have no effect at all on the environment,
there are a lot of things that cause pollution when making and promoting electric cars.
In conclusion, given that gas cars produce most of the pollution in the U.S. it is
imperative that we cut down the pollution rate. Three methods that could help reduce the
Simmons 4

pollution rates in the U.S. are producing more electric cars, making electric cars more suitable
for longer distance drives and creating an extra lane for electric cars only. The U.S. produces a
large amount of the worlds pollution causing global warming. Therefore it is our duty to repair
the damage that we have done and much more.

Simmons 5

Work Cited
Conway, Gavin. "Need to Know." How Far Do Electric Cars Go per Charge? N.p., 20 July
2011. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.
Evarts, Eric. "What Happens to Electric Car Batteries When the Car Is Used and Retired? Consumer Reports." What Happens to Electric Car Batteries When the Car Is Used and Retired?
- Consumer Reports. N.p., 04 Oct. 2013. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.
"Facts of Car Pollution." LIVESTRONG.COM. LIVESTRONG.COM, 23 June 2010. Web. 23
Oct. 2015.
"Forums." Waiting Time for a New Model S. N.p., 15 Jan. 2014. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.
"Got an Electric Vehicle Question? | NRG EVgo." EVgo. N.p., 2014. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.
Motavalli, Jim. "Let's Stop Comparing Early Hybrid Sales to Early EV Sales."PluginCars.com.
N.p., 01 Mar. 2013. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.
"Planning Considerations for Roads, Highways and Bridges." Planning Considerations for
Roads, Highways and Bridges. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.
Plumer, Brad. "The Rise of Electric Cars in the US, in 6 Charts." Vox. N.p., 28 July 2014. Web.
23 Oct. 2015.
Voelcker, John. "FINAL UPDATE: Plug-In Electric Car Sales Continue Rise In 2014, To
118,500." Green Car Reports. N.p., 03 Feb. 2015. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.