美国国家公共电台 NPR As More Electric Cars Arrive, What's The Future For Gas-Powered Engines?

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

The Democrats¹' proposed Green New Deal calls for America to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions² from U.S. transportation, an ambitious goal that would require - among many other things - phasing out cars that run on gasoline. That may sound like a major shift. But many analysts⁴ say that transition is already underway. NPR's Camila Domonoske reports.

CAMILA DOMONOSKE, BYLINE⁵: If you're driving a car in America, odds⁶ are it runs on gasoline, which means it has an internal combustion⁷ engine. You put in fuel. Tons of tiny explosions move some pistons⁸, turn a crank shaft⁹. The car starts moving, and carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. But your next car might run off batteries instead. Sam Abuelsamid is an auto¹⁰ analyst³ with Navigant.

SAM ABUELSAMID: Probably in the mid-2020s timeframe it becomes comparable or cheaper to actually buy and operate an EV than an internal combustion vehicle.

DOMONOSKE: Some analysts say the rise of EVs - or electric vehicles - could take decades instead. After all, right now electric vehicles are a tiny percentage of cars. But many new electric vehicles are about to come to market. And analysts and auto executives agree a change is happening. It's not just activists¹¹ talking. The internal combustion engine has some advantages, like fueling up.

BILL VISNIC: Five minutes - bang, you're back on your way.

DOMONOSKE: Bill Visnic is with the Society of Automotive Engineers.

VISNIC: Right now we don't have that ability to replicate¹² that with electric vehicles.

DOMONOSKE: Plus, right now electric cars are more expensive up front. But electric vehicles are cheaper to operate. They're very low-maintenance. And those upfront costs are projected to go down. Government regulations are giving electric vehicles a boost, too, especially in Europe and China.

TOM MURPHY: And they are fun to drive.

DOMONOSKE: That's Tom Murphy, a managing editor at Ward's Auto, which ranks the world's best engines.

MURPHY: They're enjoyable. They're quiet. And there's loads of torque.

DOMONOSKE: Instant acceleration¹³. In short, the electric vehicle market is revving¹⁴ up dramatically. Even people who love the internal combustion engine see the writing on the wall, like John Woods, who owns a '72 Porsche.

(SOUNDBITE OF CAR ENGINE REVVING)

DOMONOSKE: He says this is the sound of the past.

JOHN WOODS: It's the beginning of automotive, you know, engineering. But the electric car will be the future because you can get more power, more speed and use no emissions.

DOMONOSKE: Say that is the future - what happens to all the internal combustion engines already on the road? One possibility - they might get replaced quite quickly with electric vehicles. That's what environmental activists want for the sake of climate change.

And Dan Neil, the automotive columnist¹⁵ for The Wall Street Journal, argues people might choose to switch to electric vehicles even if their old car runs perfectly¹⁶ fine.

DAN NEIL: They're such better machines than the machines they're replacing.

DOMONOSKE: High gas prices would speed that up. And some European cities have proposed bans on internal combustion vehicles, which would also accelerate change but could be hard on low-income drivers. That's the fast option. Then there's the slow timeline - Abuelsamid, the auto analyst.

ABUELSAMID: You know, if every new vehicle sold were electric, you know, starting today, it would still take 20 to 25 years to replace the entire vehicle fleet with electric vehicles.

DOMONOSKE: If gas-powered vehicles stay on the road for their full lifespans, the transition would take much longer than the 10 years the Green New Deal calls for. Is that a problem?

MARY NICHOLS: We can't turn them all into planters or sculptures. So I think we're going to have to provide for them to continue to exist.

DOMONOSKE: Mary Nichols is the head of the California Air Resources Board. She's a powerful regulator who has influenced the rise of electric vehicles. She emphasizes modern cars are cleaner than they used to be. She's been fighting air pollution since 1971.

NICHOLS: In that time, the air emissions from internal combustion engines have been slashed¹⁷ by over 90 percent twice.

DOMONOSKE: They're more efficient, too, which helps with climate change. And there's one last possibility. Maybe the combustion engine has a very long life ahead of it in the hybrids¹⁸ that run off electricity or fossil fuels. Then pistons and crankshafts might exist well into an electric-dominated future. Camila Domonoske, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF ODDISEE'S "AFTER THOUGHTS")

1 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

3 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

4 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

7 combustion   

n.燃烧；氧化；骚动

参考例句：

• We might be tempted to think of combustion.我们也许会联想到氧化。
• The smoke formed by their combustion is negligible.由它燃烧所生成的烟是可忽略的。

8 pistons   

活塞( piston的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Some pistons have seating rings of metal or leather. 有些活塞上有金属或皮革的密封环。
• A pump uses valves and pistons. 泵使用阀和活塞。

9 shaft   

n.(工具的)柄，杆状物

参考例句：

• He was wounded by a shaft.他被箭击中受伤。
• This is the shaft of a steam engine.这是一个蒸汽机主轴。

10 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

11 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 replicate   

v.折叠，复制，模写；n.同样的样品；adj.转折的

参考例句：

• The DNA of chromatin must replicate before cell division.染色质DNA在细胞分裂之前必须复制。
• It is also easy to replicate,as the next subsection explains.就像下一个小节详细说明的那样，它还可以被轻易的复制。

13 acceleration   

n.加速，加速度

参考例句：

• All spacemen must be able to bear acceleration.所有太空人都应能承受加速度。
• He has also called for an acceleration of political reforms.他同时呼吁加快政治改革的步伐。

14 revving   

v.（使）加速( rev的现在分词 )；（数量、活动等）激增；（使发动机）快速旋转；（使）活跃起来

参考例句：

• The team are revving up for next week's game. 这个队伍对下周的比赛跃跃欲试。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Since the introduction of new techniques, the production has been revving up. 自从新技术的引进，产量一直都在增加。 来自互联网

15 columnist   

n.专栏作家

参考例句：

• The host was interviewing a local columnist.节目主持人正在同一位当地的专栏作家交谈。
• She's a columnist for USA Today.她是《今日美国报》的专栏作家。

16 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

17 slashed   

v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减

参考例句：

• Someone had slashed the tyres on my car. 有人把我的汽车轮胎割破了。
• He slashed the bark off the tree with his knife. 他用刀把树皮从树上砍下。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 hybrids   

n.杂交生成的生物体( hybrid的名词复数 )；杂交植物（或动物）；杂种；（不同事物的）混合物

参考例句：

• All these brightly coloured hybrids are so lovely in the garden. 花园里所有这些色彩鲜艳的杂交花真美丽。 来自辞典例句
• The notion that interspecific hybrids are rare is ill-founded. 有一种看法认为种间杂种是罕见的，这种看法是无根据的。 来自辞典例句