Why you should not own cars anymore
Why you don’t need a car? You might think why he is saying this. Yes, I am saying the guy who loves cars and writes about them. I had a dream of owning various cars, but all that is history now. I believe that we are moving fast towards a highly technological world and talking about technology automobile industry has grown rapidly. With these rapid technological advancements, we are also facing traffic problems, and we are polluting our environment which needs serious action right now. In the past decade, there is some extraordinary advancement in this industry. We are making eco-friendly cars that give us more mileage and pollute less. There are electric cars and hybrid cars which are getting popular in the market. Even with these electric cars, or hydrogen cars, the problem of pollution and traffic will be solved. I will tell you some reasons why you should not buy a car anymore and opt for Carpooling.
Carpooling (Ride Sharing)
It is a concept emerging in the past few years. Carpooling is sharing your ride with others who are travelling to the same destination. It is a great concept for city travelling and also outside-city travelling. If you go to your office by car and there are people near your area who work at your office or near your office, then you can share your ride with them.
Benefits of CarPooling
- You can save petrol/diesel money by not travelling alone if you have extra seats
- Expenses can be shared with others
- You can make new friends
- This will help reduce the traffic
- Less pollution, because instead of 4 cars only 1 car is running
- It will also avoid accidents because fewer cars on the road
- No parking hassle
The real reasons why you should not buy a car
This is because of the pollution and the number of cars increasing on the road. Vehicle numbers increased from 0.3 million in 1951 to 58.3 million in 2001-02 and it has increase to 1.446 billion cars worldwide in 2022. In India, there are 326 million in 2022. By 2035, a record 2+ billion cars will be beaten. According to a report, 66.1 million cars and light commercial vehicles were sold worldwide in 2022, and 3.4 million cars were sold in India in 2022.
There are 371 cars per KM in Delhi, and the number of private cars has increased nearly six times from 2.2 million in 1994 to 13.4 million in 2022. Vehicles are one of the major reasons for pollution. The main pollutants emitted from automobiles are hydrocarbons, lead/benzene, carbon monoxide, Sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter. The main cause of vehicular pollution is the rapidly growing number of vehicles.
We cannot reduce the toxic gaseous emission to zero, even by making eco-friendly engines, it cannot become negligible. You might think Electric cars do not emit, so they are a good solution, No they do not have zero emissions. The process of creating a battery and charging involves a lot of pollution. With an ever-increasing number of vehicles, we ought to consider a sustainable way of travelling.
Cars that cost us lakhs of rupees, and sit idle for 95% of the time. That’s right: cars are used just four per cent of the day and they are one of the most expensive possessions a family owns. That’s just the start of the waste. People spend hours each week sitting behind the wheel of a car. And the congestion caused by all that individual car use is costing India billions a year in lost productivity.
Nowadays people switch cars in 3-5 years, this is because of newer tech and safety. This also shows that people get bored with material things very quickly. I say don’t buy the car at all you can save a lot of your money and invest in other things. If you are changing your car every 3 to 5 years it is better to use services like Uber, OLA or Zoom cars.
Pollution
Air pollution and noise pollution are also increasing day by day. Delhi’s air pollution issue is because of vehicles. There are many reasons a vehicle pollutes.
- Old Vehicles
- Unmaintained vehicles
- Diesel Vehicles
- Bad road condition
- Poor Driving habits
- Increased number of vehicles
- Poor Fuel Quality
- Using vehicles for a short distance
- Poor Public transport
Strict Rules can be imposed by the government which can overcome these problems. Regarding fuel, like diesel and petrol which release dangerous pollutants into the air, electric cars can be a substitute. Public transport has to be improved by the Government and they should first implement electric vehicles in public transport, like OLA who took the initiative and started with 500 electric vehicles in Nagpur.
So What I suggest
First of all, we need to improve public transport in every city, not just in major cities. We need to connect our smaller cities with bigger cities. We need more trains, and Electric or Hydrogen buses that can carry more people. But this public transport should also have proper maintenance. Because what we have currently is not maintained properly, due to which people do not prefer travelling in them. This is one of the best and most sustainable ways to travel.
Another option for car lovers, who love to drive is carpooling. If we start carpooling, and two-wheeler pooling from now on we can save energy, and reduce noise and air pollution. Road traffic and several accidents.
By starting car-pooling, we slowly eliminate the number of vehicles on the road. Then after a few years, we would have reasons not to buy a car which sits 96% of its lifetime. And avoid a huge investment in the thing we do not use regularly. In addition, we also have to maintain the cars we own which cost around 2 to 3% of the cost of your vehicle every year.
Instead of this, we can use services like OLA, and Uber for travelling, or if we want to drive the car ourselves, we can use services like Zoom cars. Using these services will reduce pollution, traffic congestion and accidents. On the other hand, we can increase the revenue for our country, increase employment, and open new scope of business for everyone.
However, it does not seem possible at this stage but we have to take initiative and act now so that we can see changes in a decade or so.
As the government is saying electric cars by 2030, I do not think it is completely viable. I think the first government should bring in electric vehicles in public transport, change all the vehicles in the public transport industry to electric, and then think of individual owners. In addition, even changing all vehicles in the market to electric would increase the cost of vehicles. Because the demand for the battery would increase and the battery is expensive. Manufacturing batteries will also increase pollution.
Conclusion
Hope this article will highlight a few points to consider various reasons not to buy a car. And you can use a car by using carpooling, hiring a taxi or subscribing to a car for a specific period.
See Infographics Here.
