If you were raised any time in the last century and are male, there’s a good chance you’ve got a thing for cars. Loud ones, fast ones, sporty ones. There’s a million and one types but traditionally they’ve all had one thing in common. They were fuelled by a fossil fuel of one kind or another. Well, that can only last so long. When fossil fuels like petrol or diesel are burned, they release chemicals into the air that actually damage the planet. So whilst they make these great hunks of metal go really fast, they aren’t sustainable. By that I mean, the ride has to end some time. Except for the relatively recent introduction of electric vehicles.

The vehicle that runs purely on electricity has been around in one form or another for a while now. But it was not until recently that they started gaining real traction in the market. Unfortunately, as with many new technologies, there are dozens of false starts and many mistakes made. And in the case of electric vehicles this may have put a seriously negative image in your mind of what a real electric car looks like.

When someone mentions “electric vehicle” or “electric car” what’s the first image that pops into your head? Probably a weird shape, maybe like a golf cart, like the Renault Twizy. Or it’s skinny cousin the Lumenco SMERA. Or perhaps you imagine a dune buggy, like the Cross Rider Sport. Maybe a box car with no real shape, the kind of thing a child might have drawn up, like the Tazzari Zero. But hey, it isn’t all hatchbacks and dune buggies in the electric vehicle world. No, sometimes you get companies trying to recreate the sports car, like the Montbeliard. Could be the designer took inspiration from 80’s Sci Fi movies like Robocop with the F-City.

You know what? You’re right. Mistakes were made. Consider this though, dial back far enough in time and you will see plenty of unfortunate incidents coming out of the design departments of the many new car companies that arose during the industries early days. Or even still today. There’s room for improvement, that’s for sure. And thankfully, car companies are catching on. Just because a car has a futuristic technology in it, like an electric engine, doesn’t mean that it has to look like something out of Star Trek.

Car manufacturers are starting to catch on to what their audience wants. What is that exactly? Perhaps the best way to describe it is to create a car that looks like a normal car, but looks slightly more futuristic. And has an electric engine. Tesla is best known as the leader in the electric vehicle space, but other manufacturers are catching up quickly. Especially with cars like the Hyundai Ioniq, the Tesla Model S, Model X, the Ford Focus hatchback, there are many great options finally coming on to the market.

Alright, so hopefully by now you’re seeing that there really are electric vehicles that are just as gorgeous, or better looking than traditional cars. But to add some urgency, let’s note the environmental impact. People are becoming more aware of the impact their car is having on the environment of our planet.  With a recent survey conducted by Carzoos 2,000 Australian customers were surveyed as to what they look for in a new car. Of those surveyed, a significant portion mentioned that the car had to be clean and that it was an environmentally friendly or electric car.

Still not convinced? They cost less to drive (especially with the price of petrol now). Every purchase is an investment into clean energy, consider this voting with your wallet (and your brain). They reduce the amount of noise and heat, clean and green is not just a catch phrase! Though, this might be a downside for some rev heads out there. And they drive better. Electric vehicles have fewer moving parts than traditional cars and so can give you 100 percent torque right from the get go. That’s the concept behind the Telsa’s Ludicrous Speed mode, which broke the acceleration record recently.

It’s definitely possible to go into a dozen more reasons why the switch to electric vehicles needs to begin happening, but the fact of the matter is that it will take time. Hopefully, you can now see that electric vehicles are better in almost every way to older gas guzzling vehicles. And when it is time for your next set of wheels, you’ll consider the environmentally friendly option.