Your car is due for replacement
You want to know whether electric fits your life.
Courses
Start with three things you can do today
How to decide if an electric car is right for you
Work out whether an electric car fits your driving, charging and budget.
Start with how an electric car works and where its emissions come from over its life, then compare running costs, charging options and range against your actual driving. The course is built around your situation and helps you prepare questions, without recommending a car.
Type this when Cadence asks what you want to learn
I am thinking about buying an electric car and want to understand whether it makes sense for me. I want to know how they work, whether they are really better for the environment, and how charging and running costs compare with my current car.
Change any word so it fits your situation. The course is built from what you type and a few setup questions.
Start today
Four things you can do before the course exists.
Useful on their own. The course is for when you want the whole skill, not just the first move.
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Compare cost per 100 miles
Illustrative numbers: a car using 30 kWh per 100 miles at 15 cents per kWh costs 4.50 dollars in electricity per 100 miles. A 30 mpg petrol car at 3.50 dollars a gallon costs about 11.67 dollars. Redo it with your own tariff, fuel price and each car's official efficiency figures.
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Check your charging before the car
Write down where the car would be parked most nights. With a driveway or reliable workplace charging, routine top-ups can happen there. With only public chargers, find the nearest ones and check their prices and reliability before deciding.
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Look up emissions where you live
Lifetime emissions depend on how your electricity is generated. In the US, the EPA and Department of Energy's Beyond Tailpipe Emissions Calculator estimates them by zip code and model. Elsewhere, look up your country's electricity mix.
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Plan for your longest regular trip
Take your longest trip in a typical month and compare it with the car's rated range, leaving a margin for cold weather and motorway speeds, which both reduce range. If it falls short, check the charging stops on that route.
Sources: US EPA: electric vehicle myths, emissions from charging and battery manufacturing; US Department of Energy AFDC: emissions from electric vehicles over their life cycle. Practical examples are starting points, not promised results.
- Best for
- Environment & climate
- Prerequisites
- None. Bring the situation you have.
- Course length
- 7 to 30 lessons, sized to your goal
- Lesson pace
- About 10 minutes a day
- Format
- Read it, or play the audio
- Access
- Available on the App Store, with early features and Android testing access
Before the course is built
Setup asks about your situation first.
Lesson 1 opens on the moment you describe, and the examples use your role. For this request, expect questions like these.
- How do you drive now: daily distance, longest regular trip and rough yearly mileage?
- Where would you charge: a driveway, a workplace, or only public chargers?
- What matters most to you: running costs, the environment, or reliability?
Right for now
If any of this sounds familiar, start here.
You hear conflicting claims
Battery mining, power stations and range, and you want the evidence.
You have no driveway
And wonder whether charging would work for you.
Course arc
Where the course goes, in order.
Cadence writes the lessons for you, so the exact path follows your answers. This is the ground a course built from this sentence covers.
01 / 06How electric cars work
Batteries, motors, regenerative braking and efficiency.
Emissions over a lifetime
Manufacturing, the battery, your local electricity and the tailpipe.
Charging
Home, workplace and public charging, and how charging speed is measured.
Range and real driving
How cold weather, speed and trip length affect range.
Running costs
Energy, maintenance and how to compare with a petrol or diesel car.
Before you buy
Battery warranties, used models and the questions to ask a seller.
What changes
What you will be able to do, and what you will stop believing.
You will be able to
Understand the technology
Explain batteries, charging speeds, range and regenerative braking.
Weigh the environmental case
Compare lifetime emissions, including manufacturing and the electricity source.
Run your own numbers
Estimate running costs and charging fit for your own driving.
Ideas this course corrects
Power stations make electric cars worse for the climate
US EPA finds an electric car is typically responsible for lower greenhouse gas emissions than an average new petrol car, even counting charging. The gap depends on how local electricity is generated.
The battery cancels out any benefit
Making the battery adds emissions at the start, but over the car's life total emissions are typically lower than those of a comparable petrol car.
Course questions
What to know before you start.
How to decide if an electric car is right for you: what can I do today?
Compare cost per 100 miles. Illustrative numbers: a car using 30 kWh per 100 miles at 15 cents per kWh costs 4.50 dollars in electricity per 100 miles. A 30 mpg petrol car at 3.50 dollars a gallon costs about 11.67 dollars. Redo it with your own tariff, fuel price and each car's official efficiency figures. Check your charging before the car. Write down where the car would be parked most nights. With a driveway or reliable workplace charging, routine top-ups can happen there. With only public chargers, find the nearest ones and check their prices and reliability before deciding. Look up emissions where you live. Lifetime emissions depend on how your electricity is generated. In the US, the EPA and Department of Energy's Beyond Tailpipe Emissions Calculator estimates them by zip code and model. Elsewhere, look up your country's electricity mix. Plan for your longest regular trip. Take your longest trip in a typical month and compare it with the car's rated range, leaving a margin for cold weather and motorway speeds, which both reduce range. If it falls short, check the charging stops on that route.
Is this a fixed course?
No. Cadence builds the course when you type the sentence and answer a few setup questions, so the lessons follow your situation. This page describes what a course built from this request covers. You see the whole path before Lesson 1.
Who is this course for?
Start with how an electric car works and where its emissions come from over its life, then compare running costs, charging options and range against your actual driving. The course is built around your situation and helps you prepare questions, without recommending a car. It sits under Environment & climate in the Ideas & discovery part of the library.
Do I need any prior experience?
No. Setup asks what you already know and where you want to use it, and the course starts from there. Bring a real situation if you have one; the examples are built around it.
How long does it take?
Courses run 7 to 30 lessons of about 10 minutes, sized to what you asked for. One lesson a day is the intended pace, and you can go faster. Lessons can be read or played as audio.
Does this course award a certificate or degree?
No. Cadence is for practical self-learning and does not award accredited degrees or professional certification.
Start today
Type it, answer a few questions, open Lesson 1.
The sentence to type
I am thinking about buying an electric car and want to understand whether it makes sense for me. I want to know how they work, whether they are really better for the environment, and how charging and running costs compare with my current car.