Do you know what the electric car is and what are its benefits? If you still don't know this text can help you!
The ideas
For our project, we wanted to find out which is the most important environmental problem that affects all of the world population. Doing this research, we learned that, because of carbon dioxide produced by the fuel used in traditional vehicles, the hole in the ozone layer is increasing in size. This is, for us, the main environmental problem since the carbon dioxide produced in a country is not only a national issue, it is an international one. The air knows no borders. This phenomenon creates various problems, including extinction of fauna and flora, genetic mutations in organisms and global warming. We did some research about sustainable methods to replace the use of fuel, and after a debate discussing different possibilities, such as the use of bicycles, scooters and skateboards, we decided that the best option was the electric car. Our choice was based on the fact that it is a modern and revolutionary idea.
In addition to this, in our country, the electric car is not a common means of transport in our country, so we found it convenient to inform the population about this. Not many of us were informed about all its advantages, for this reason we decided to carry on a research and we learned that they do not emit harmful gases, have fewer mechanical failures, are more comfortable and can be loaded from the comfort of our home, unlike a gas car. Also, they are cheaper in maintenance. We consider that the electric car is a good idea to reduce pollution generated in the city of Luján since most of its inhabitants have gasoline powered cars. We are aware that this change is far from the present but we believe that the transition should start as soon as possible.
The initiatives
We decided to carry out surveys in order to understand the people’s knowledge about electric cars. The first question that we added in our form had as an objective to see how many people have seen them around. Thanks to the results, we were able to reach the conclusion that these cars circulate on the streets, or are seen, but not as much as they should. The second question aimed to know if people found affordable the purchase of one of these cars and the answers revealed that 50% think it is, which is an encouraging number. The objective of the third question was to find out how profitable people think the electric car is compared to the gasoline or diesel car. We learned that almost 60% of people believe that it is more economical to drive with an electric car, however there is a percentage of respondents who are not informed. The fourth question was about people's preconceptions on the daily use of these types of cars in relation to comfort, since some people may think that these cars are not as comfortable as an average gas powered car. The answers showed that 58% believe that it is more comfortable an electric car. However, the percentage of people who do not think the same is higher. The fifth question intended to know people's assumptions regarding the price of the vehicle. Most of the Argentines agreed that this type of car is above 900,000 Argentine Pesos. In the question number 6, we wanted to know if people had electric car lifespan awareness compared to gasoline / diesel Cars. We could see almost half of answers (43.2%) were “I do not know". The knowledge on this subject was limited, not many were aware of all of its benefits.
We wanted to create a video, but under the current circumstances it was not possible. We therefore decided to make posters and PowerPoint presentations to make people aware of the advantages of the electric car and its contribution to a sustainable mobility. Our posters are in Spanish and English, to facilitate the communication in our community but also at an international level. In our school we shared our awareness materials using the virtual classroom, to which all students have access and this way our message could reach a great audience.
