Car

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other uses, see Car (disambiguation), CARS (disambiguation), and Automobile
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Car

Cars and trucks driving on a divided

highway, Highway 401 in Ontario, Canada

Classification Vehicle

Industry Various

Application Transportation

Fuel source Gasoline, electricity, diesel, natural

gas, hydrogen, solar, vegetable oil

 Powered Yes

Self-propelled Yes

Wheels 3–4

Axles 2

Inventor Carl Benz

Invented 1886

A car (or automobile) is a wheeled motor vehicle that is used for transportation. Most
definitions of cars say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have
four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods.[1][2]
The year 1886 is regarded as the birth year of the car when German inventor Carl
Benz patented his Benz Patent-Motorwagen.[3][4][5] Cars became widely available during
the 20th century. One of the first cars affordable by the masses was the 1908 Model T,
an American car manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. Cars were rapidly adopted
in the US, where they replaced animal-drawn carriages and carts.[6] In Europe and other
parts of the world, demand for automobiles did not increase until after World War
II.[6] The car is considered an essential part of the developed economy.
Cars have controls for driving, parking, passenger comfort, and a variety of lights. Over
the decades, additional features and controls have been added to vehicles, making
them progressively more complex. These include rear-reversing cameras, air
conditioning, navigation systems, and in-car entertainment. Most cars in use in the early
2020s are propelled by an internal combustion engine, fueled by
the combustion of fossil fuels. Electric cars, which were invented early in the history of
the car, became commercially available in the 2000s and are predicted to cost less to
buy than gasoline cars before 2025.[7][8] The transition from fossil fuels to electric cars
features prominently in most climate change mitigation scenarios,[9] such as Project
Drawdown's 100 actionable solutions for climate change.[10]
There are costs and benefits to car use. The costs to the individual include acquiring the
vehicle, interest payments (if the car is financed), repairs and maintenance,
fuel, depreciation, driving time, parking fees, taxes, and insurance.[11] The costs to
society include maintaining roads, land use, road congestion, air pollution, public
health, healthcare, and disposing of the vehicle at the end of its life. Traffic collisions are
the largest cause of injury-related deaths worldwide.[12]
Personal benefits include on-demand transportation, mobility, independence, and
convenience.[13] Societal benefits include economic benefits, such as job and wealth
 creation from the automotive industry, transportation provision, societal well-being from
leisure and travel opportunities, and revenue generation from taxes. People's ability to
move flexibly from place to place has far-reaching implications for the nature of
societies.[14] There are around 1 billion cars in use worldwide. Car usage is increasing
rapidly, especially in China, India, and other newly industrialized countries.[15]

Contents

 1Etymology
 2History
 3Mass production
 4Fuel and propulsion technologies
 5User interface
 6Electronics and interior
 7Lighting
 8Weight
 9Seating and body style
 10Safety
 11Costs and benefits
 12Environmental effects
 13Emerging car technologies
o 13.1Autonomous car
o 13.2Open source development
o 13.3Car sharing
 14Industry
 15Alternatives
 16Other meanings
 17See also
 18Notes
 19References
 20Further reading
 21External links

Etymology
The English word car is believed to originate from Latin carrus/carrum "wheeled vehicle"
or (via Old North French) Middle English carre "two-wheeled cart," both of which in turn
derive from Gaulish karros "chariot."[16][17] It originally referred to any wheeled horse-
drawn vehicle, such as a cart, carriage, or wagon.[18][19]
"Motor car," attested from 1895, is the usual formal term in British English.[2] "Autocar," a
variant likewise attested from 1895 and literally meaning "self-propelled car," is now
considered archaic.[20] "Horseless carriage" is attested from 1895.[21]
"Automobile," a classical compound derived from Ancient Greek autós (αὐτός) "self"
and Latin mobilis "movable," entered English from French and was first adopted by
the Automobile Club of Great Britain in 1897.[22] It fell out of favour in Britain and is now
used chiefly in North America,[23] where the abbreviated form "auto" commonly appears
as an adjective in compound formations like "auto industry" and "auto
mechanic".[24][25] Both forms are still used in everyday Dutch (auto/automobiel)
and German (Auto/Automobil).[citation needed]

History
Main article: History of the automobile

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Steam Machine Of Verbiest, in 1678 (Ferdinand Verbiest)

The first working steam-powered vehicle was designed—and quite possibly built—
by Ferdinand Verbiest, a Flemish member of a Jesuit mission in China around 1672. It
was a 65-centimetre (26 in)-long scale-model toy for the Kangxi Emperor that was
unable to carry a driver or a passenger.[13][26][27] It is not known with certainty if Verbiest's
model was successfully built or run.[27]

Cugnot's 1771 fardier à vapeur, as preserved at the Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris, France

Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot is widely credited with building the first full-scale, self-propelled
mechanical vehicle or car in about 1769; he created a steam-powered tricycle.[28] He
also constructed two steam tractors for the French Army, one of which is preserved in
the French National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts.[29] His inventions were, however,
limited by problems with water supply and maintaining steam pressure.[29] In
1801, Richard Trevithick built and demonstrated his Puffing Devil road locomotive,
believed by many to be the first demonstration of a steam-powered road vehicle. It was
unable to maintain sufficient steam pressure for long periods and was of little practical
use.
The development of external combustion engines is detailed as part of the history of the
car but often treated separately from the development of true cars. A variety of steam-
powered road vehicles were used during the first part of the 19th century,
including steam cars, steam buses, phaetons, and steam rollers. In the United Kingdom,
sentiment against them led to the Locomotive Acts of 1865.
In 1807, Nicéphore Niépce and his brother Claude created what was probably the
world's first internal combustion engine (which they called a Pyréolophore), but they
chose to install it in a boat on the river Saone in France.[30] Coincidentally, in 1807 the
Swiss inventor François Isaac de Rivaz designed his own 'de Rivaz internal combustion
engine' and used it to develop the world's first vehicle to be powered by such an engine.
The Niépces' Pyréolophore was fuelled by a mixture of Lycopodium powder (dried
spores of the Lycopodium plant), finely crushed coal dust and resin that were mixed
with oil, whereas de Rivaz used a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen.[30] Neither design
was very successful, as was the case with others, such as Samuel Brown, Samuel
Morey, and Etienne Lenoir with his hippomobile, who each produced vehicles (usually
adapted carriages or carts) powered by internal combustion engines.[3]

Gustave Trouvé's tricycle, the first ever electric automobile to be shown in public
Carl Benz, the inventor of the modern car

In November 1881, French inventor Gustave Trouvé demonstrated the first working
(three-wheeled) car powered by electricity at the International Exposition of Electricity,
Paris.[31] Although several other German engineers (including Gottlieb Daimler, Wilhelm
Maybach, and Siegfried Marcus) were working on the problem at about the same time,
the year 1886 is regarded as the birth year of the car when the German Carl
Benz patented his Benz Patent-Motorwagen; he is generally acknowledged as the
inventor of the car.[3][4][5]

The original Benz Patent-Motorwagen, first built in 1885 and awarded the patent for the concept

In 1879, Benz was granted a patent for his first engine, which had been designed in
1878. Many of his other inventions made the use of the internal combustion engine
feasible for powering a vehicle. His first Motorwagen was built in 1885 in Mannheim,
Germany. He was awarded the patent for its invention as of his application on 29
January 1886 (under the auspices of his major company, Benz & Cie., which was
founded in 1883). Benz began promotion of the vehicle on 3 July 1886, and about 25
Benz vehicles were sold between 1888 and 1893, when his first four-wheeler was
introduced along with a cheaper model. They also were powered with four-
stroke engines of his own design. Emile Roger of France, already producing Benz
engines under license, now added the Benz car to his line of products. Because France
was more open to the early cars, initially more were built and sold in France through
Roger than Benz sold in Germany. In August 1888 Bertha Benz, the wife of Carl Benz,
undertook the first road trip by car, to prove the road-worthiness of her husband's
invention.
Bertha Benz, the first long distance driver

In 1896, Benz designed and patented the first internal-combustion flat engine,
called boxermotor. During the last years of the nineteenth century, Benz was the largest
car company in the world with 572 units produced in 1899 and, because of its size,
Benz & Cie., became a joint-stock company. The first motor car in central Europe and
one of the first factory-made cars in the world, was produced by Czech company
Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau (later renamed to Tatra) in 1897, the Präsident automobil.
Daimler and Maybach founded Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) in Cannstatt in
1890, and sold their first car in 1892 under the brand name Daimler. It was a horse-
drawn stagecoach built by another manufacturer, which they retrofitted with an engine
of their design. By 1895 about 30 vehicles had been built by Daimler and Maybach,
either at the Daimler works or in the Hotel Hermann, where they set up shop after
disputes with their backers. Benz, Maybach and the Daimler team seem to have been
unaware of each other's early work. They never worked together; by the time of the
merger of the two companies, Daimler and Maybach were no longer part of DMG.
Daimler died in 1900 and later that year, Maybach designed an engine named Daimler-
Mercedes that was placed in a specially ordered model built to specifications set
by Emil Jellinek. This was a production of a small number of vehicles for Jellinek to race
and market in his country. Two years later, in 1902, a new model DMG car was
produced and the model was named Mercedes after the Maybach engine, which
generated 35 hp. Maybach quit DMG shortly thereafter and opened a business of his
own. Rights to the Daimler brand name were sold to other manufacturers.
Carl Benz proposed co-operation between DMG and Benz & Cie. when economic
conditions began to deteriorate in Germany following the First World War, but the
directors of DMG refused to consider it initially. Negotiations between the two
companies resumed several years later when these conditions worsened, and in 1924,
they signed an Agreement of Mutual Interest, valid until the year 2000. Both enterprises
standardized design, production, purchasing, and sales and they advertised or
marketed their car models jointly, although keeping their respective brands. On 28 June
1926, Benz & Cie. and DMG finally merged as the Daimler-Benz company, baptizing all
of its cars Mercedes Benz, as a brand honoring the most important model of the DMG
cars, the Maybach design later referred to as the 1902 Mercedes-35 hp, along with the
Benz name. Carl Benz remained a member of the board of directors of Daimler-Benz
until his death in 1929, and at times, his two sons also participated in the management
of the company.

Émile Levassor

Armand Peugeot

In 1890, Émile Levassor and Armand Peugeot of France began producing vehicles with
Daimler engines, and so laid the foundation of the automotive industry in France. In
1891, Auguste Doriot and his Peugeot colleague Louis Rigoulot completed the longest
trip by a gasoline-powered vehicle when their self-designed and built Daimler
powered Peugeot Type 3 completed 2,100 km (1,300 miles) from Valentigney to Paris
and Brest and back again. They were attached to the first Paris–Brest–Paris bicycle
race, but finished 6 days after the winning cyclist, Charles Terront.
The first design for an American car with a gasoline internal combustion engine was
made in 1877 by George Selden of Rochester, New York. Selden applied for a patent
for a car in 1879, but the patent application expired because the vehicle was never built.
After a delay of sixteen years and a series of attachments to his application, on 5
November 1895, Selden was granted a United States patent (U.S. Patent 549,160) for
a two-stroke car engine, which hindered, more than encouraged, development of cars in
the United States. His patent was challenged by Henry Ford and others, and overturned
in 1911.
In 1893, the first running, gasoline-powered American car was built and road-tested by
the Duryea brothers of Springfield, Massachusetts. The first public run of the Duryea
Motor Wagon took place on 21 September 1893, on Taylor Street in Metro
Center Springfield.[32][33] The Studebaker Automobile Company, subsidiary of a long-
established wagon and coach manufacturer, started to build cars in 1897[34]: p.66  and
commenced sales of electric vehicles in 1902 and gasoline vehicles in 1904.[35]
In Britain, there had been several attempts to build steam cars with varying degrees of
success, with Thomas Rickett even attempting a production run in 1860.[36] Santler from
Malvern is recognized by the Veteran Car Club of Great Britain as having made the first
gasoline-powered car in the country in 1894,[37] followed by Frederick William
Lanchester in 1895, but these were both one-offs.[37] The first production vehicles in
Great Britain came from the Daimler Company, a company founded by Harry J.
Lawson in 1896, after purchasing the right to use the name of the engines. Lawson's
company made its first car in 1897, and they bore the name Daimler.[37]
In 1892, German engineer Rudolf Diesel was granted a patent for a "New Rational
Combustion Engine". In 1897, he built the first diesel engine.[3] Steam-, electric-, and
gasoline-powered vehicles competed for decades, with gasoline internal combustion
engines achieving dominance in the 1910s. Although various pistonless rotary
engine designs have attempted to compete with the
conventional piston and crankshaft design, only Mazda's version of the Wankel
engine has had more than very limited success.
All in all, it is estimated that over 100,000 patents created the modern automobile and
motorcycle.[38]

Mass production
See also: Automotive industry

Ransom E. Olds founded Olds Motor Vehicle Company (Oldsmobile) in 1897.

Henry Ford founded Ford Motor Company in 1903.

1927 Ford Model T

Kiichiro Toyoda, president of the Toyota Motor Corporation 1941–1950

Mass production at a Toyota plant in the 1950s

The Toyota Corolla is the best-selling car of all-time.

Large-scale, production-line manufacturing of affordable cars was started by Ransom

Olds in 1901 at his Oldsmobile factory in Lansing, Michigan and based upon
stationary assembly line techniques pioneered by Marc Isambard Brunel at
the Portsmouth Block Mills, England, in 1802. The assembly line style of mass
production and interchangeable parts had been pioneered in the U.S. by Thomas
Blanchard in 1821, at the Springfield Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts.[39] This
concept was greatly expanded by Henry Ford, beginning in 1913 with the world's
first moving assembly line for cars at the Highland Park Ford Plant.
As a result, Ford's cars came off the line in fifteen-minute intervals, much faster than
previous methods, increasing productivity eightfold, while using less manpower (from
12.5 man-hours to 1 hour 33 minutes).[40] It was so successful, paint became a
bottleneck. Only Japan black would dry fast enough, forcing the company to drop the
variety of colors available before 1913, until fast-drying Duco lacquer was developed in
1926. This is the source of Ford's apocryphal remark, "any color as long as it's
black".[40] In 1914, an assembly line worker could buy a Model T with four months' pay.[40]
Ford's complex safety procedures—especially assigning each worker to a specific
location instead of allowing them to roam about—dramatically reduced the rate of
injury.[41] The combination of high wages and high efficiency is called "Fordism," and was
copied by most major industries. The efficiency gains from the assembly line also
coincided with the economic rise of the United States. The assembly line forced workers
to work at a certain pace with very repetitive motions which led to more output per
worker while other countries were using less productive methods.
In the automotive industry, its success was dominating, and quickly spread worldwide
seeing the founding of Ford France and Ford Britain in 1911, Ford Denmark 1923, Ford
Germany 1925; in 1921, Citroën was the first native European manufacturer to adopt
the production method. Soon, companies had to have assembly lines, or risk going
broke; by 1930, 250 companies which did not, had disappeared.[40]
Development of automotive technology was rapid, due in part to the hundreds of small
manufacturers competing to gain the world's attention. Key developments included
electric ignition and the electric self-starter (both by Charles Kettering, for
the Cadillac Motor Company in 1910–1911), independent suspension, and four-wheel
brakes.
Since the 1920s, nearly all cars have been mass-produced to meet market needs, so
marketing plans often have heavily influenced car design. It was Alfred P. Sloan who
established the idea of different makes of cars produced by one company, called
the General Motors Companion Make Program, so that buyers could "move up" as their
fortunes improved.
Reflecting the rapid pace of change, makes shared parts with one another so larger
production volume resulted in lower costs for each price range. For example, in the
1930s, LaSalles, sold by Cadillac, used cheaper mechanical parts made by Oldsmobile;
in the 1950s, Chevrolet shared hood, doors, roof, and windows with Pontiac; by the
1990s, corporate powertrains and shared platforms (with interchangeable brakes,
suspension, and other parts) were common. Even so, only major makers could afford
high costs, and even companies with decades of production, such
as Apperson, Cole, Dorris, Haynes, or Premier, could not manage: of some two
hundred American car makers in existence in 1920, only 43 survived in 1930, and with
the Great Depression, by 1940, only 17 of those were left.[40]
In Europe, much the same would happen. Morris set up its production line at Cowley in
1924, and soon outsold Ford, while beginning in 1923 to follow Ford's practice
of vertical integration, buying Hotchkiss (engines), Wrigley (gearboxes), and Osberton
(radiators), for instance, as well as competitors, such as Wolseley: in 1925, Morris had
41% of total British car production. Most British small-car assemblers,
from Abbey to Xtra, had gone under. Citroën did the same in France, coming to cars in
1919; between them and other cheap cars in reply such as Renault's 10CV
and Peugeot's 5CV, they produced 550,000 cars in 1925, and Mors, Hurtu, and others
could not compete.[40] Germany's first mass-manufactured car,
the Opel 4PS Laubfrosch (Tree Frog), came off the line at Rüsselsheim in 1924, soon
making Opel the top car builder in Germany, with 37.5% of the market.[40]
In Japan, car production was very limited before World War II. Only a handful of
companies were producing vehicles in limited numbers, and these were small, three-
wheeled for commercial uses, like Daihatsu, or were the result of partnering with
European companies, like Isuzu building the Wolseley A-9 in 1922. Mitsubishi was also
partnered with Fiat and built the Mitsubishi Model A based on a Fiat
vehicle. Toyota, Nissan, Suzuki, Mazda, and Honda began as companies producing
non-automotive products before the war, switching to car production during the 1950s.
Kiichiro Toyoda's decision to take Toyoda Loom Works into automobile manufacturing
would create what would eventually become Toyota Motor Corporation, the largest
automobile manufacturer in the world. Subaru, meanwhile, was formed from a
conglomerate of six companies who banded together as Fuji Heavy Industries, as a
result of having been broken up under keiretsu legislation.

Fuel and propulsion technologies

See also: Alternative fuel vehicle

2011 Nissan Leaf electric car

Low battery and motors can improve safety[42]

The transport sector is a major contributor to air pollution, noise pollution and climate
change.[43]
Most cars in use in the early 2020s run on gasoline burnt in an internal combustion
engine (ICE). The International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers says that,
in countries that mandate low sulfur gasoline, gasoline-fueled cars built to late 2010s
standards (such as Euro-6) emit very little local air pollution.[44][45] Some cities ban older
gasoline-fueled cars and some countries plan to ban sales in future. However some
environmental groups say this phase-out of fossil fuel vehicles must be brought forward
to limit climate change. Production of gasoline fueled cars peaked in 2017.[46][47]
Other hydrocarbon fossil fuels also burnt by deflagration (rather than detonation) in ICE
cars include diesel, Autogas and CNG. Removal of fossil fuel subsidies,[48][49] concerns
about oil dependence, tightening environmental laws and restrictions on greenhouse
gas emissions are propelling work on alternative power systems for cars. This
includes hybrid vehicles, plug-in electric vehicles and hydrogen vehicles. Out of all cars
sold in 2021, 9% were electric, and by the end of that year there were more than 16
million electric cars on the world's roads.[50] Despite rapid growth, less than 2% of cars
on the world's roads were fully electric and plug-in hybrid cars by the end of
2021.[50] Cars for racing or speed records have sometimes
employed jet or rocket engines, but these are impractical for common use.
Oil consumption has increased rapidly in the 20th and 21st centuries because there are
more cars; the 1985–2003 oil glut even fueled the sales of low-economy vehicles
in OECD countries. The BRIC countries are adding to this consumption.

User interface
Main article: Car controls

In the Ford Model T the left-side hand lever sets the rear wheel parking brakes and puts the transmission in
neutral. The lever to the right controls the throttle. The lever on the left of the steering column is for ignition
timing. The left foot pedal changes the two forward gears while the centre pedal controls reverse. The right
pedal is the brake.

Cars are equipped with controls used for driving, passenger comfort, and safety,
normally operated by a combination of the use of feet and hands, and occasionally by
voice on 21st-century cars. These controls include a steering wheel, pedals for
operating the brakes and controlling the car's speed (and, in a manual transmission car,
a clutch pedal), a shift lever or stick for changing gears, and a number of buttons and
dials for turning on lights, ventilation, and other functions. Modern cars' controls are now
standardized, such as the location for the accelerator and brake, but this was not
always the case. Controls are evolving in response to new technologies, for example,
the electric car and the integration of mobile communications.
Some of the original controls are no longer required. For example, all cars once had
controls for the choke valve, clutch, ignition timing, and a crank instead of an
electric starter. However new controls have also been added to vehicles, making them
more complex. These include air conditioning, navigation systems, and in car
entertainment. Another trend is the replacement of physical knobs and switches by
secondary controls with touchscreen controls such as BMW's iDrive and Ford's MyFord
Touch. Another change is that while early cars' pedals were physically linked to the
brake mechanism and throttle, in the early 2020s, cars have increasingly replaced these
physical linkages with electronic controls.

Electronics and interior

Panel for fuses and circuit breakers

Cars are typically equipped with interior lighting which can be toggled manually or be
set to light up automatically with doors open, an entertainment system which originated
from car radios, sideways windows which can be lowered or raised electrically
(manually on earlier cars), and one or multiple auxiliary power outlets for supplying
portable appliances such as mobile phones, portable fridges, power inverters, and
electrical air pumps from the on-board electrical system.[51][52][a] More costly upper-class
and luxury cars are equipped with features earlier such as massage seats and collision
avoidance systems.[53][54]
Dedicated automotive fuses and circuit breakers prevent damage from electrical
overload.

Lighting
Main article: Automotive lighting

Audi A4 daytime running lights

Cars are typically fitted with multiple types of lights. These include headlights, which are
used to illuminate the way ahead and make the car visible to other users, so that the
vehicle can be used at night; in some jurisdictions, daytime running lights; red brake
lights to indicate when the brakes are applied; amber turn signal lights to indicate the
turn intentions of the driver; white-colored reverse lights to illuminate the area behind
the car (and indicate that the driver will be or is reversing); and on some vehicles,
additional lights (e.g., side marker lights) to increase the visibility of the car. Interior
lights on the ceiling of the car are usually fitted for the driver and passengers. Some
vehicles also have a trunk light and, more rarely, an engine compartment light.

Weight
A Chevrolet Suburban extended-length SUV weighs 3,300 kg (7,200 lb) (gross weight).[55]

During the late 20th and early 21st century cars increased in weight due to
batteries,[56] modern steel safety cages, anti-lock brakes, airbags, and "more-powerful—if
more efficient—engines"[57] and, as of 2019, typically weigh between 1 and 3
tonnes.[58] Heavier cars are safer for the driver from a crash perspective, but more
dangerous for other vehicles and road users.[57] The weight of a car influences fuel
consumption and performance, with more weight resulting in increased fuel
consumption and decreased performance. The Wuling Hongguang Mini EV, a
typical city car, weighs about 700 kg (1,500 lb). Heavier cars include SUVs and
extended-length SUVs like the Suburban.
Some places tax heavier cars more: as well as improving pedestrian safety this can
encourage manufacturers to use materials such as recycled aluminum instead of
steel.[59] In some competitions such as the Shell Eco Marathon, average car weights of
45 kg (99 lb) have also been achieved.[60] These cars are only single-seaters (still falling
within the definition of a car, although 4-seater cars are more common), but they
nevertheless demonstrate the amount by which car weights could still be reduced, and
the subsequent lower fuel use (i.e. up to a fuel use of 2560 km/l).[61]

Seating and body style

See also: Car body style, Car classification, Truck classification, and Vehicle size class

Most cars are designed to carry multiple occupants, often with four or five seats. Cars
with five seats typically seat two passengers in the front and three in the rear. Full-size
cars and large sport utility vehicles can often carry six, seven, or more occupants
depending on the arrangement of the seats. On the other hand, sports cars are most
often designed with only two seats. The differing needs for passenger capacity and their
luggage or cargo space has resulted in the availability of a large variety of body styles to
meet individual consumer requirements that include, among others,
the sedan/saloon, hatchback, station wagon/estate, and minivan.

Safety
Main articles: Car safety, Traffic collision, Low speed vehicle, and Epidemiology of motor vehicle
collisions
Result of a serious car collision

Traffic collisions are the largest cause of injury-related deaths worldwide.[12] Mary
Ward became one of the first documented car fatalities in 1869 in Parsonstown,
Ireland,[62] and Henry Bliss one of the United States' first pedestrian car casualties in
1899 in New York City.[63] There are now standard tests for safety in new cars, such as
the Euro NCAP and the US NCAP tests,[64] and insurance-industry-backed tests by
the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).[65]

Costs and benefits

Main articles: Economics of car usage, Car costs, and Effects of the car on societies

Road congestion is an issue in many major cities (pictured is Chang'an Avenue in Beijing).[66]

The costs of car usage, which may include the cost of: acquiring the vehicle, repairs
and auto maintenance, fuel, depreciation, driving time, parking fees, taxes, and
insurance,[11] are weighed against the cost of the alternatives, and the value of the
benefits – perceived and real – of vehicle usage. The benefits may include on-demand
transportation, mobility, independence and convenience,[13] and emergency
power.[67] During the 1920s, cars had another benefit: "[c]ouples finally had a way to
head off on unchaperoned dates, plus they had a private space to snuggle up close at
the end of the night."[68]
Similarly the costs to society of car use may include; maintaining roads, land use, air
pollution, road congestion, public health, health care, and of disposing of the vehicle at
the end of its life; and can be balanced against the value of the benefits to society that
car use generates. Societal benefits may include: economy benefits, such as job and
wealth creation, of car production and maintenance, transportation provision, society
wellbeing derived from leisure and travel opportunities, and revenue generation from
the tax opportunities. The ability of humans to move flexibly from place to place has far-
reaching implications for the nature of societies.[14]

Environmental effects
See also: Exhaust gas, Waste tires, Environmental effects of transport, Motor vehicle emissions
and pregnancy, Noise pollution, Environmental aspects of the electric car, Vehicle recycling,
and Externalities of automobiles

Vehicles in use per country from 2001 to 2007. It shows the significant growth in BRIC.

Cars are a major cause of urban air pollution,[69] with all types of cars producing dust
from brakes, tyres and road wear.[70] As of 2018 the average diesel car has a worse
effect on air quality than the average gasoline car.[71] Both gasoline and diesel cars
pollute more than electric cars.[72] While there are different ways to power cars most rely
on gasoline or diesel, and they consume almost a quarter of world oil production as of
2019.[46] In 2018 passenger road vehicles emitted 3.6 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide.[73] As
of 2019, due to greenhouse gases emitted during battery production, electric cars must
be driven tens of thousands of kilometers before their lifecycle carbon emissions are
less than fossil fuel cars:[74] but this is expected to improve in future due to longer
lasting[75] batteries being produced in larger factories,[76] and lower carbon electricity.
Many governments are using fiscal policies, such as road tax, to discourage the
purchase and use of more polluting cars;[77] and many cities are doing the same
with low-emission zones.[78] Fuel taxes may act as an incentive for the production of
more efficient, hence less polluting, car designs (e.g. hybrid vehicles) and the
development of alternative fuels. High fuel taxes or cultural change may provide a
strong incentive for consumers to purchase lighter, smaller, more fuel-efficient cars, or
to not drive.[78]
The lifetime of a car built in the 2020s is expected to be about 16 years, or about 2
million kilometres (1.2 million miles) if driven a lot.[79] According to the International
Energy Agency fuel economy improved 0.7% in 2017, but an annual improvement of
3.7% is needed to meet the Global Fuel Economy Initiative 2030 target.[80] The increase
in sales of SUVs is bad for fuel economy.[46] Many cities in Europe, have banned older
fossil fuel cars and all fossil fuel vehicles will be banned in Amsterdam from
2030.[81] Many Chinese cities limit licensing of fossil fuel cars,[82] and many countries plan
to stop selling them between 2025 and 2050.[83]
The manufacture of vehicles is resource intensive, and many manufacturers now report
on the environmental performance of their factories, including energy
usage, waste and water consumption.[84] Manufacturing each kWh of battery emits a
similar amount of carbon as burning through one full tank of gasoline.[85] The growth in
popularity of the car allowed cities to sprawl, therefore encouraging more travel by car
resulting in inactivity and obesity, which in turn can lead to increased risk of a variety of
diseases.[86]
Animals and plants are often negatively affected by cars via habitat destruction and
pollution. Over the lifetime of the average car the "loss of habitat potential" may be over
50,000 m2 (540,000 sq ft) based on primary production correlations.[87] Animals are also
killed every year on roads by cars, referred to as roadkill. More recent road
developments are including significant environmental mitigation in their designs, such
as green bridges (designed to allow wildlife crossings) and creating wildlife corridors.
Growth in the popularity of vehicles and commuting has led to traffic
congestion. Moscow, Istanbul, Bogota, Mexico City and Sao Paulo were the world's
most congested cities in 2018 according to INRIX, a data analytics company.[88]

Emerging car technologies

Although intensive development of conventional battery electric vehicles is continuing
into the 2020s,[89] other car propulsion technologies that are under development
include wheel hub motors,[90] wireless charging,[91] hydrogen cars,[92] and hydrogen/electric
hybrids.[93] Research into alternative forms of power includes using ammonia instead of
hydrogen in fuel cells.[94]
New materials which may replace steel car bodies include
aluminum,[95] fiberglass, carbon fiber, biocomposites, and carbon
nanotubes.[96] Telematics technology is allowing more and more people to share cars, on
a pay-as-you-go basis, through car share and carpool schemes. Communication is also
evolving due to connected car systems.[97]
Autonomous car
Main article: Autonomous car

This section needs expansion. You

can help by adding to
it. (November 2019)

A robotic Volkswagen Passat shown at Stanford University is a driverless car.

Fully autonomous vehicles, also known as driverless cars, already exist in prototype
(such as the Google driverless car), but have a long way to go before they are in
general use.[98]
Open source development
Main article: Open source car

There have been several projects aiming to develop a car on the principles of open
design, an approach to designing in which the plans for the machinery and systems are
publicly shared, often without monetary compensation. None of the projects have
succeeded in developing a car as a whole including both hardware and software, and
no mass production ready open-source based designs have been introduced. Some
car hacking through on-board diagnostics (OBD) has been done so far.[99]
Car sharing
Car-share arrangements and carpooling are also increasingly popular, in the US and
Europe.[100] For example, in the US, some car-sharing services have experienced
double-digit growth in revenue and membership growth between 2006 and 2007.
Services like car sharing offer residents to "share" a vehicle rather than own a car in
already congested neighborhoods.[101]

Industry
Main article: Automotive industry

This section needs expansion. You

can help by adding to it. (March
2019)

A car being assembled in a factory

The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells the
world's motor vehicles, more than three-quarters of which are cars. In 2020 there were
56 million cars manufactured worldwide,[102] down from 67 million the previous year.[103]
The automotive industry in China produces by far the most (20 million in 2020), followed
by Japan (7 million), then Germany, South Korea and India.[104] The largest market is
China, followed by the USA.
Around the world there are about a billion cars on the road;[105] they burn over a trillion
liters of gasoline and diesel fuel yearly, consuming about 50 EJ (nearly 300 terawatt-
hours) of energy.[106] The numbers of cars are increasing rapidly in China and India.[15] In
the opinion of some, urban transport systems based around the car have proved
unsustainable, consuming excessive energy, affecting the health of populations, and
delivering a declining level of service despite increasing investment. Many of these
negative effects fall disproportionately on those social groups who are also least likely to
own and drive cars.[107][108] The sustainable transport movement focuses on solutions to
these problems. The car industry is also facing increasing competition from the public
transport sector, as some people re-evaluate their private vehicle usage.

Alternatives
Main article: Alternatives to car use

The Vélib' in Paris, France is the largest bikesharing system outside China.[109]

Established alternatives for some aspects of car use include public transport such as
buses, trolleybuses, trains, subways, tramways, light rail, cycling, and walking. Bicycle
sharing systems have been established in China and many European cities,
including Copenhagen and Amsterdam. Similar programs have been developed in large
US cities.[110][111] Additional individual modes of transport, such as personal rapid
transit could serve as an alternative to cars if they prove to be socially accepted.[112]

Other meanings
The term motorcar was formerly also used in the context of electrified rail systems to
denote a car which functions as a small locomotive but also provides space for
passengers and baggage. These locomotive cars were often used on suburban routes
by both interurban and intercity railroad systems.[113]