If you've visited our local shopping centre lately, you may have noticed some odd kind of car parks close to the entrance of the shops.

They look like something from 'Back to the Future II'. As it turns out, the odd looking car parks are not futuristic at all. Or we might have finally moved into the future as they are actually "Electric Car" charging stations!

Are electric cars becoming more popular in Australia? Not according to 'Cars Guide' who have announced that sales of electric cars in Australia are very low. Does Westfield know something we don't know? (Westfield is one of the shopping centres now sporting these "Electric Car" charging stations.)

However, if they're popping up at shopping centres, our mechanics thought we should give our readers a heads up on the pros and cons of electric cars as it looks like the future is here, right here in our very own Melbourne, Australia!

There is no disputing that electric cars are overall better for the environment than petrol cars. Even though electric cars create more carbon emissions during the manufacturing stage than a petrol car, by the end of its life an electric car will have created less than half the emissions of the petrol car.

This figure takes into account the emissions created to generate the electricity. Currently, 80% of Australia's electricity is generated from fossil fuel. When electricity is generated in greener ways then electric cars will only get cleaner and cleaner.

New electric cars in Australia can start from around $40k-$60k compared to an entry-level petrol car of around $15k - $20k

How long will an electric car last? The life of an electric car is tied to the life of the battery.

Currently, there is not much information on this as they are still so new. One driver reported his car battery no longer held a charge at 373,131 kms. Australian drivers drive an average of 15,530 kms per year so you could assume electric cars might last for about 24 years. One might think, "easy, just replace the battery right?" No, not so easy. Currently, electric car batteries can cost close to $20k.

Electric cars are far cheaper to run. Average price for electricity in Australia is about $0.25 per kilowatt. An electric car takes about 18 kW-h to travel 100 kms so this is $4.50. The average petrol car uses 11.1 litres of fuel to travel 100 kms. Calculated at $1.5 per litre this is a cost of $16.65.

If Australians drive 372,730 kms over 24 years (and if the price of electricity doesn't change) the cost of recharging the electric car could be around $16,780.00. In comparison, over the same period of time, the cost of fueling a petrol car (assuming the cost of fuel doesn't change) would be $62,059.

Electric cars do seem like a good idea. The cost of buying them seems to be compensated by the cost of running them and they contribute to clean air and environmental sustainability.

Most importantly, we can now get an easy and very convenient parking spot at Westfield... ;-)

Happy Shopping!