KWL

Topic: Are electric/self-driving cars taking over the car industry? 

Know:  What I know about electric cars is that they are becoming really popular. They’re also reliable and don’t require gas for fun. In my opinion, I think electric/self-driving cars will become the future for the car industry. I also know that they can be expensive. Since they don’t run on gas they have a really big battery and the car comes with a special charger to charge the battery. In addition, if you want to go on a really long road trip there’s a lot of charging stations so your car won’t die in the middle of the road.

Want: What I want to know about electric/self-driving is how much is the profit they make on each car. I also what to know how much they have helped the environment. Another thing I want to know is in the future (50 years) will cars that run on gas still be around since the car industry is taking a huge turn. In addition, I want to know do families trust their lives with self-driving cars driving on their own. I’m also curious if a person gets into an accident whiles their car is driving on its own, will they go back to a self-driving car after the accident?

Learned: With my little research I learned a few things. Electric vehicle sales are growing rapidly. Over 200,000 electric vehicles were sold in the United States in 2017, compared to only 18,000 in 2011. Gasoline vehicles are responsible for $37 Billion in health and climate costs each year.  However, if electric vehicles represent 65% of all vehicles in only 10 states by 2050, those costs would drop by $21 Billion. I also learned that electric vehicles are much easier to maintain since there really isn’t a lot of things that could go wrong as a gasoline vehicle can have lots of problems involving the engine, transmission, etc.

Still want to know: Some things I still want to know are how long will the electric vehicle industry be successful for. What happens if the entire world has no electricity and all gasoline vehicle are gone. Will people who just got their license for example 18-year-olds take advantage of a self-driving car?