Electric Vehicles — The Future?
Outline of the article:
- What is an electric vehicle and How it is different from usual vehicles?
- Opportunities and threats of EVs
- Do electric vehicles mean a Green economy?
- Conclusion
“At least Two-Third of global car sales will be Electric by 2040 “~ Bloomberg
Electric Vehicles:
Electric vehicles are fully or partially dependent on electricity. There are majorly three kinds of Electric Vehicles in the market:
- Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs)
- Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEVs)
- Hybrid EVs
Opportunities & Threats of EVs:
The market for EVs is growing fast. Despite the falling of the automobile industry in 2020, 3 million new cars were registered globally. Electric Vehicles, especially Electric Cars sales grew up to 40% in comparison to 2019. There are various reasons for the boom in the electric vehicle market: -
- Governments commitment & incentives
- Manufacturer investments
- Increasing awareness around climate risk & renewable energy
Governments of various countries like Germany, France, US have shown strong commitments to reduce carbon emissions in the future decade. According to German Federal Government’s Press and Information Office, Germany has committed $6.5 billion for funding electric car subsidies and charging infrastructure and these funds will be available until 2024.
France’s government offering 1000 euros of subsidy to purchase electric cars and has extended environmental bonus. In many other countries deducting road, taxes is a way of incentivizing people for EVs. Norway is an economy that depends on fuel &gas and is one of the biggest fossil-fuel producers in the world. But on the other hand, in 2020, Norway registered a significant market share in plug-in Electric Vehicles. In March 2021, Norway has accounted for 56% of Electric car registrations out of total registered cars.
Manufacturers like Volvo car group, BMW group intend to become fully electric car manufacturers by 2030. Some companies like Volkswagen who owns Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini, and 9 other car brands is building a network of six large battery factories in Europe, on its existing two facilities in Germany and Sweden.
Increasing public awareness about climate change also creates a significant and growing opportunity for consumer companies. Research carried out by the Climate Group in 2017 found that 28 percent of consumers in the United Kingdom and 19 percent in the United States are strongly concerned about climate change. Subsequently, the electric vehicle market is a great example of this awareness.
Threats:
Government providing incentives, manufacturers being committed to grow their sales by cutting down costs. EVs are growing faster. But is it the same for all countries? Are there not any threats associated with EVs?
Yes, there are! -
Ø High cost:
At present, purchasing cost of an electric car is much high than any petrol/ diesel car. For example, Audi diesel car prices in India are 30–32 lakhs and Audi electric car prices are 99.9 lakh — 1.5 crore. Prices are higher almost 250–300%.
Even though incentives are being provided, it is a very high cost to bear for an ordinary person. If this cost gap gets maintained, then the rise of EVs across the globe can be similar.
Ø Lack of infrastructure:
In many of the countries, there is a lack of charging stations. Many EV users charge cars at their homes/garages. It is the best idea for people who travel a short distance. But when it comes to longer trips with BEVs it leads to fear that car will run out of power before it reaches another charging station. On the other hand, if we see the rising use of EVs, and if the suitable infrastructure will not be available then it may not lead to better result as we have to also see the charging time taken by vehicles, as US already have 42k charging stations over 1 million ( approx.) vehicles, according to a recent report
US need to set up at least more than 10k charging stations by 2025 due to the increasing use of vehicles.
Ø Charging time:
Charging time is also a great concern when it comes to charging stations and EVs.
- Level 1 Charger (120-volt plug-in) takes 20 -40 hours to fully charge a car battery. This is done through a normal home electricity charging point.
- Level 2 (240 volts plugin)- For a 1-hour charge, it generally takes 20 to 50 miles of travel. Level 2 type chargers can use the same outlet as required for electric ovens or dryers.
- Level 3 Charger — A fast direct charge takes 30 mins to charge a large battery up to 80%.
In US mostly Level 2 Chargers are available. Only 5 k Level 3 chargers are present out of 40k in total.
So, till the time charging capacity and infrastructure become advanced, Using EVs as public transport or Overusing EVs will lead to hurdles as we saw above high charging time.
Does electric vehicle mean Green economy, what about dead batteries?
The major difference between conventional cars and EV cars is the battery. EV cars use lithium-ion batteries. As lead-acid batteries are widely recycled but it is not the same as lithium-ion.
As these batteries mainly constitute Nickel, Cobalt, Lithium, these all minerals are mined from the earth. During the mining process, a good amount of energy is needed. Moreover, researchers are worried about cobalt and nickel which could face a shortage.
As the need for electric batteries is increasing, it’s important to recycle the batteries to reduce the need for new mining.
But metal like lithium is economically cheaper in mining than recycle.
According to researchers, the most effective way is for manufacturers to themselves collect their batteries and recycle them.
But according to the global estimation of 2019, only 5% of lithium-ion batteries are recycled, which is a very small number.
Conclusion:
The Electric Vehicle market is becoming attractive but before you consider you should opt for an electric vehicle or not. The above metrics should be taken care of. Recycling and advancing technology battery capacity is the need of the hour and Companies are heavily spending in their R& D trying to better battery capabilities with less charging needs. Most manufacturers like Volkswagen group have started a battery-recycling plant in Germany earlier this year and hope to open similar plants around the world.
I Hope, you enjoyed the article. Thanks for reading!
