With the release of the new Tesla Roadster 2.0 and the new Tesla Semi truck, the electric industry has gotten its much-deserved attention, in a positive light.

                                              Tesla Roadster 2.0 – Source: https://www.tesla.com/roadster/

While the roadster is meant for the thrill-seeking speedsters, with ridiculous acceleration of 0-60mph (96.5 kph) in 1.9 seconds and now the extended range of 620 miles (997 kilometers) with a top speed of over 250mph (402kph), the semi on the other hand was meant to change the perception that electric vehicle can’t be big and powerful, and also to bring a positive influence on both traffic and pollution. (considering current trucks have poor fuel efficiency and are terribly slow)

                       Tesla Semi – Source: https://www.tesla.com/semi/

The recent Tesla event was expected to unveil only the electric semi truck, but in a typical Elon Musk approach of shock and awe, after closing out his rundown of the semi, he called it a night only for the semi to stupefyingly open up and unveil the roadster 2.0, which wasn’t expected for even the upcoming year.

Tesla Showroom in Dubai – Source: http://www.arabianbusiness.com/

With the first Tesla showroom opened in Dubai earlier this year; skepticism does rise as to what the scope of the electric vehicle industry in Qatar or any of the OPEC (organization of petroleum exporting countries) countries in the middle east is;While the electric industry is generally seen as way to reduce pollution a lot of it can be misrepresented. Yes, the cars have zero emissions but the same cannot be said for the manufacturing process. Manufacturing an electric car does cause detectable amounts carbon emissions, even more so in the production of its huge batteries; And the biggest problem overlooked is the fact that while the car itself has zero carbon emission, the production of electricity does not. Power is generated in most countries by either coal or oil. If you live in a country that hasn’t or is only now starting to adapt renewable energy sources, then the biggest source of pollution comes from generating the electricity in the first place. To effect change on massive scale the sources itself would have to be clean. In short electric cars can only be as clean as its source of electricity.

The middle east has only recently started to adapt solar energy; what this means for the future of electric cars, in the middle east, is that the early adoption of electric cars while a well-received gesture, is only for the speedsters and staunch environmentalists at the moment.

                                                Wind and Solar Farms – Source: https://www.icslatam.com/

All of this is not to say that the gas fueled cars are the better alternative, electric cars are still cheaper than gas cars in the long run for average consumers and also better for the environment; In time when the middle east is ready for electric cars, with clean energy source in a large scale, then it could bring considerable change to the environment, there could also be other progressive changes in the OPEC countries such as the increase in the export of oil caused by reduced consumption domestically; thus, improving the local economy. All this remains to be seen.

Written by Vinoth Ramesh