Level 1 Chapter 5.pptVIP

Chapter 5 Transportation Li Pengfei Faculty of College English Teaching Text Study For many decades, people have dreamed of electric cars. However, making them has been more difficult than anyone predicted. But the dream of an electric car may finally be coming true. People were interested in making electric cars as early as the 1840s. One small electric car was made then, but it didn’t work well. Then, in 1912, General Motors’ founder Billy Durant produced an electric trunk. However, these electric vehicles were not made for the public to buy. Text Study By the early 1990s, because of growing air pollution, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) made a new rule. The board said that by 1998, the seven major automakers—GM, Ford, Chrysler, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, and Mazda—would have to make 2 percent of their cars and trucks emission-free. That number will rise to 5 percent in 2001 and 10 percent by 2003. therefore, automakers had to began to take electric cars seriously. General Motors was the first to try again. The challenge was difficult. An electric car needs a battery. But batteries are heavy and don’t work well. None of them could power a car far enough or long enough. The engineers had to start from scratch. There were many frustrations. Text Study The financial challenges were also great. The new technology cost a lot. It seemed that the car would be so expensive that no one would buy it. General Motors didn’t think it could make a profit on the electric cars. At last, they succeeded. The car they built was called the EV1. It became available in California and Arizona in 1998. it is the first electric car designed and sold by a large automobile company. The EV1 runs on a heavy, T-shaped battery. The battery is about 18 inches long and 4.5 inches wide. Because the car doesn’t use gasoline, it doesn’t pollute the air. Text Study After about 70 miles of driving, the car’s battery must be recharged by connecting it to a special recharging unit. Recharging ta