Electric Vehicles are the future but find a hurdle in Disabled People.

Electric Vehicles are the future but find a hurdle in Disabled People.

Electric Vehicle is a vehicle that operates in a battery operating mode. It is environmentally friendly, unlike gas-guzzling vehicles which create pollution. Electric Vehicles will be a pioneer in the future. An ad commercial was released by Super Bowl at the beginning of this year in which GM had specified that Electric vehicles are not for disabled people but it’s labeled for everyone except them. The ad however ended with photos of single-armed surfboarders to garner attention. However, the surfboarder was miraculously replaced with a healthy person without clarifying the incident. Redesigning these vehicles with slopes can be cumbersome due to the architectonics.

Challenges

Electric Vehicles are the future but find a hurdle in Disabled People.
EVs Hurdle Disabled People (source: theverge)

Someone not able to drive taking a remedy for a brain tumour and as a result it caused sore that affected his cranial nerves damaging his balance and motility skills and made his eyes blown up. As far as owning a Dodge minivan with a revamped ramp which did help him to travel farther distances or going through some difficult paths. People having a busy life is simply a boon for them. Someone who is financially well-off can buy these vehicles, but those in the lower-income group would find it difficult to afford these vehicles.

Electric Vehicles are not for disabled people and Some of them have problems with the extra burden of the cables while plugging electric vehicles (EVs) into the charger, others do have problems applying the strength required to fix the connector.

Original Equipment manufacturers like Volkswagen and Toyota are looking into this problem for a while and they have committed to building vehicles that could have a catastrophic effect for other OEMs to follow.

EVs for wheelchair users
EVs for wheelchair users

Charging time is another concern for disabled persons as charging the battery do depend upon the size of the battery, ampere power of circuitry. Only if overnight charging can be done it can be helpful for them.

As per Kelly Dawson, Disability Rights advocate residing in Los Angeles, she can’t bow down to fill tires. as she may not be in a position to cower and balance at exact time. Dawson reiterates that when cars got accessed by the masses, disabled people specifically were not included in them. Only after Americans with Disability Act was introduced changes in automation did occur.

Dropping the flooring of the gas guzzler to 10 to 14 inches would have cost something around $25000 to $ 35000 which could have been partly paid from the local government or Department of Senior Affairs. Every year, say 20000 of these transformations are carried out according to Sam Abuelsamid, Principal Analyst for E-Mobility at Guidehouse. But Transformation companies like Mobility Works and Braunibility will not transform electric vehicles to a ramp due to batteries’ placement.

According to Abuelsamid Braunibility is planning to have transformation for the Chrysler Pacifica plug-in–hybrid that has a bending ramp through the back, but rarely these types of minivans are hardly found in the market. Few bigger electric vans may appear in GM’s Ford E-Transit and Brightdrop EV600 during the end of this year but these are for commercial purposes. First of its kind Electric minivan will be unveiled in 2023.

Kevin Frayne previously in GM, now at Braunability is a futuristic person. He has a different view and he feels that it will be not impossible but companies will have to work with a proactive approach to fulfill the task. He says that some changes in geometric features need to be applied in roof height. Here ramping between floor and battery bank also to be looked.

Disabled Drivers have difficulty in finding charging stations. There must be constrained-free parking spaces everywhere as parking spaces are crowded in most of the places.

Conclusion

Lots of things are happening in the world but one must realise the situation of disabled people who are at mercy every other time. If Changes in Electric vehicle system changes then it will be helpful for disabled people. Disabled people will not have to depend on others for doing their own errands. Lots of Automobile companies are into their research and hopefully within 2-3 years changes in EV will find happiness in Disabled people.