BATTERY ELECTRIC VEHICLES – ENVIRONMENT
News: The
problem with battery electric vehicles
What's in the news?
● Battery
electric vehicles are at the heart of
the government’s push for net zero.
● However,
what has worked for Norway and China may not be as successful in India’s
peculiar conditions.
● While
there is little debate that electrification is the future, the roadmap remains
unclear.
Need of BEVs in India:
● In
India, the two major objectives seem to be to cut emissions and reduce costly
fuel imports.
Issues in Battery Electric Vehicles push:
1. Upfront Subsidy:
● The
BEV experience across markets from Norway to the US and China shows the
electric push works only if it is backed
by state subsidies.
● The
government waives the high taxes it
imposes on sales of non-electrics, it lets electric cars run in bus lanes,
toll roads are free for them, and parking lots offer a free charge.
● The
problem with this overt subsidization of EVs, especially in the context of
developing nations like India, is that much of the subsidy, especially the one
offered as tax breaks for cars, ends up in the hands of the middle or upper
middle classes, who are typically the buyers of battery electric four-wheelers.
2. Charging Network:
● A
World Bank analysis found that investing
in charging infrastructure is 4-7 times more effective in EV adoption than
providing upfront purchase subsidies.
● China,
the leader in the number of publicly available chargers, accounts for 85% of global
fast chargers and 55% slow chargers.
● In
India, the number of EVs had crossed 1 million by mid-2022, and will likely
grow to 45-50 million by 2030.
● However,
only about 2,000 public charging
stations are currently operational across the country.
3. Electricity Source:
● In
several countries that have pushed EVs, much of the electricity is generated
from renewables - Norway has 99% hydroelectric power.
● In
India, the grid is still fed largely by
coal-fired thermal plants.
4. Value Chain:
● As
India struggles to make inroads into the global lithium value chain, there is discussion on the need to diversify
the country’s dependency on Li-ion batteries in the EV mix.
● The
demand for Li-ion batteries from India is projected to grow at a CAGR of more
than 30% by volume up to 2030, which translates to more than 50,000 tonnes of
lithium requirement for the country to manufacture EV batteries alone.
New Technologies:
1. Hybrids:
● The
hybrid technology is seen as a good intermediate step towards achieving the
all-electric goal.
● Hybrids
typically have improved fuel efficiency
through electrification of the powertrain, but do not require the charging
infrastructure base that is an essential for BEVs.
● Additionally,
manufacturers claim that a hybrid vehicle base also spawns the manufacture of
the battery ecosystem, which can then be leveraged for a BEV push.
● However,
hybrids too have the issue of Li-ion
batteries being the main source, even though the self-charging mode
obviates the need for charging points.
2. Ethanol and Flexi-fuel:
● A
flex fuel, or flexible fuel, vehicle has an internal combustion engine, but unlike a regular petrol or diesel
vehicle, it can run on more than one type of fuel, or even a mixture of fuels such as petrol and ethanol.
● A
nationwide pilot that is currently underway aims to replicate the commercial
deployment of this technology in other markets such as Brazil, Canada, and the
US.
3. FCEVs & Hydrogen Ice:
● Hydrogen
fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) are practically
zero emission, but a major hurdle to their adoption has been the lack of fueling station infrastructure
— even though fuel cell cars refuel in a way that is similar to conventional
cars, they cannot use the same station.
● Safety is also a concern.
Hydrogen is pressurized and stored in a
cryogenic tank, from there it is fed to a lower-pressure cell and put through
an electro-chemical reaction to generate electricity.
4. Synthetic Fuels:
● German
manufacturer Porsche is developing a synthetic fuel that it says can make an internal combustion engine as clean as
an EV.
● Porsche’s
e-Fuels are made from carbon dioxide and hydrogen, and are produced using
renewable energy. The fuel production is being tested in Chile.
The idea is to
make this usable in all petrol-engine cars, rendering their use virtually
CO2-neutral, and thereby give ICE cars a fresh lease of life.