Disadvantages - Social
Electric vehicles also often have long recharge times compared to the relatively fast process of refuelling a tank. This is further complicated by the current scarcity of public charging stations. "Range anxiety" is a label for consumer concern about electric vehicles’ range.
At low speeds, electric cars produced less roadway noise as compared to vehicles propelled by internal combustion engines.
Blind people or the visually impaired consider the noise of combustion engines a helpful aid while crossing streets, hence electric cars and hybrids could pose an unexpected hazard.
Tests have shown that this is a valid concern, as vehicles operating in electric mode can be particularly hard to hear below 20 mph (30 km/h) for all types of road users and not only the visually impaired.
The Nissan Leaf was the first electric car to use Nissan's Vehicle Sound for Pedestrians system, which includes one sound for forward motion and another for reverse. As of January 2014, most of the hybrids and plug-in electric and hybrids available in the United States, Japan and Europe make warning noises using a speaker system.
Disadvantages - Economic
Cost of operating an electric vehicle varies, depending on location.
In some parts of the world, an electric vehicle costs less to drive than a comparable gas-powered vehicle, as long as the higher initial purchase-price is not factored in.
A 2011 study done by Purdue University found that in California most users already reach the third pricing tier for electricity each month, and adding an electric vehicles could push them into the fourth or fifth (highest, most expensive) tier, meaning that they will be paying in excess of $.45 cents per kWh for electricity to recharge their vehicle.
At this price, which is higher than the average electricity price in the US, it is dramatically more expensive to drive a ‘pure’ electric vehicle than it is to drive a traditional ‘pure’ gas-powered vehicle.
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