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Joshua Fournier
Persuasive Essay
ENGL 231C
February 22, 2016
Going Green, Environmentally and Economically
Earth is an incredible thing. Its a home to silent, snow-covered
mountains that have seen many millenniums, a place where peace and
destruction can balance each other in harmony, and a provider for over
seven billion unique faces and personalities. Like many good things
though, earth hasnt, nor will it be around forever. Humans and living
things have taken their toll on the planet through pollution, greed or
war, and with negative affects that continue to become more blatantly
obvious by the day, the environmental race is on for a more ecofriendly society. Far in front of the pack, the automobile industry has
become obsessed with green power, creating cars that run off
electricity, solar power and even hydrogen, one of the most abundant
elements (Senese) in the universe. With all the forward progress
however, another question is called into play on whether these new
vehicles should face the same regulation and tax as their gas-guzzling
cousins, a tax put into place by the government, arguably, just to make
money. Electric vehicles, while better in some aspects, should still face
the same tax and regulation as conventional vehicles because they use
harmful chemicals in batteries, because energy to charge these

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vehicles often comes from traditional sources, and because the taxes
on these vehicles go to more than just the government, but help to
keep roadways pristine and safe.
At first glance, its easy to get caught up in the craze of electric
vehicles. Theyre relatively new, low cost to run, and dont get
associated with pollution because they have no tailpipe to begin with.
What they all have however, are batteries, lithium-ion batteries to be
exact, and lots of them. These batteries can become extremely
dangerous, they are highly flammable, and the contents inside them
can become very corrosive, easily causing chemical burns to skin or
killing other vegetation. Even if batteries arent structurally
compromised in a crash, cars dont last forever, and when electric
vehicles go to the junkyard, their surroundings become subject to toxic
metals and materials that lay waste as the car slowly breaks down.
Based on a study held by the Norwegian University of Science and
Technology, electrical vehicles have actually done most of their
pollution before they even hit the road and after they go out of
commission in a landfill (Hawkins). This shows just how harmful the
chemicals can be on the environment and why equal taxes are
necessary to combat the numerous negative affects these vehicles
leave behind.
Though pollution from electric vehicles may not nearly be as
publicized as pollution from conventional vehicles, the idea of any

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vehicle being completely clean applies the same as the idea theres
no such thing as free lunch. With the increased demand for electrical
cars comes the increased demand for power stations to keep them
charged. This means more materials needed to build these stations,
more energy needed to build these materials, and more often then not,
it all comes from traditional, pollution filled methods of power
generation. According to a study by BBC News, the global warming
potential from electric vehicle production is about twice that of
conventional vehicles (BBC News). This shows just how taxing
production of these cars are on the environment, and just how hard it
is to produce the extra electricity that is needed to keep these cars on
the road. With equal taxes on both electric and conventional vehicles,
money can be budgeted towards new technology in power generation,
an area that would combat pollution for both styles of automobile.
Imagine a car accident where the police would never come,
roads that were so filled with potholes that they werent even drivable,
or stoplights that didnt even work. Without taxes on vehicles, that
vision would become a lot less of a dream and a lot more of a reality.
Contrary to what seems like popular belief, not all taxes are put into
place for the sole purpose to make money, but some, like automotive
taxes, are quite useful in keeping roadways pristine and keeping us
safe. If electric cars paid the same taxes as conventional cars, extra

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money could be set aside to reduce the stress in the budget and
reduce the financial burden on the economy as a whole.
While setting equal taxes on both styles of vehicle would be the
logical decision as they both harm the environment and both use the
same roadways and services, raising the taxes on electric vehicles to
that of conventional vehicles would also have downfalls. Electric
vehicles are much quieter and produce much less noise pollution than
conventional vehicles, if tax breaks are implemented to owners of
these vehicles, high traffic areas could potentially become much
quieter. Tax breaks for electric vehicles may also increase demand for
these vehicles and lead to the development of new or improved
technology that could change the automotive industry entirely.
In a day in age where becoming an efficient and eco-friendly
society is more of a necessity than anything else, many items that
claim to be green are still a long ways off. Electric cars are no
exception to this statement, and should pay the same taxes as
conventional cars because they still use toxic and harmful chemicals,
they still use power from traditional, fuel burning factories, and
because they share the same roads yet really arent any better for the
environment at all.

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Essay Word Count: 962
(Sources on next page)

Works Cited

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BBC News. "Electric Cars Pose Environmental Threat." 5 October 2012.
BBC News. 22 February 2016
<http://www.bbc.com/news/business-19830232>.
Hawkins, Troy R. "Comparative Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of
Conventional and Electric Vehicles." Journal of Industrial Ecology
17.1 (2013): 53-64.
Senese, Fred. Most Abundant Element. 17 August 2015. 22 February
2016
<http://antoine.frostburg.edu/chem/senese/101/periodic/faq/wha
t-element-is-most-abundant.shtml>.