Within the next year or two electric cars, or zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) as they are sometimes referred to, will be an everyday sight on streets right across the globe. The stuff of science fiction films will have have become science fact.

Basic electric vehicles are already for sale to consumers in some countries and are due to become significantly more sophisticated and widespread in the coming years.

The concept of an electric vehicle is nothing new, it has been around for a number of years. However, the urgent need to cut carbon emissions in the fight to slow global warming has sped up the development of the next generation of road transport.

Consumer electric vehicles and ZEVs are already being manufactured and will shortly be widely available in showrooms around the globe. We are already familiar with hybrid cars, which have been in existence for a number of years. These cars alternate between electric and gasoline propulsion to help reduce emissions. Electric cars take clean motoring to a higher level, in that they have no emissions whatsoever – they don’t even have a tail pipe. The advantages of this are likely to be dramatic, particularly in polluted heavily populated areas, as electric cars and ZEVs become more widespread.

So how does the electric vehicle work? Electric vehicles use electric motors and motor controllers in place of the standard internal combustion engine. Instead of the usual gasoline, these vehicles are propelled by electricity from battery packs, although new methods of energy storage are being developed that should replace batteries in the near future. As we speak, special filling stations for the electric car revolution are being built on roadsides around the globe where car owners can pull in and refuel their electric cars, just like at a normal filling station.

However, for a lot of people, the transition from the conventional gasoline car that we all know and love to electric cars and ZEVs will require a significant leap of faith. However, electric cars have so many things going for them that the transition should be a pretty smooth one.

Running costs – The fact that electric cars are more economical to run and cost less to maintain will likely win over their most steadfast detractors. Car owners will get far more miles for their money and the expense of maintaining these cars will be significantly cheaper than servicing a normal car.

The environment – As electric vehicles become more common, the benefits to the environment will be very significant. This is especially the case in large urban areas where smog and poor air quality at street level presents a significant health hazard to people.

A number of worries do remain over electric vehicles, such as how long it takes to recharge batteries, the top speeds and acceleration of the vehicles, and concerns such as handling and performance. That said, as car makers invest more and more cash into fine tuning these vehicles, these concerns are likely to be ironed out sooner rather than later.