Electric Vehicles: Advantages and limitations over conventional vehicles.
Hello friends, welcome once again to second part of the blog on Electric Vehicles. First of all, sorry for delay in posting blog and hope you all are safe in this second wave of COVID 19.
Now, after reading first part of blog you might be well acquainted with basics of electric vehicles. In this blog we will focus on what are key advantages of electric vehicles, what key value propositions of EV are and why it has created so much buzz. Also we will see what are distinguishing advantages that conventional internal combustion engine have over EV’s which will ensure survival of IC engine longer than its estimated currently.
Below figure indicated key advantages and disadvantage of electric vehicles.
v Advantages of Electric Vehicle:
Having said that, Zero emissions are always better than what produced by ICE vehicles. Hence EV’s having distinct advantage over conventional vehicles.
(Here, I gave emphasis on word ‘local’, as total pollutants generated depends on way electricity is generated in particular country.)
2) Very Less running cost: As you are aware that Petrol has almost reached 100 Rs./ lit.
So daily commuting is hurting common mans pocket to large extend. So if you have fixed routine travel and you have EV with decent range then operating cost will reduce considerably.
From India's point of view, transition to electric vehicles would save lots of fuel import.
3) Better standalone efficiency of motor vs ICE:
Thermal efficiency of ICE is only in the range of 30-45 % for stage of art engines. It means, if we fill 100 Rs. of fuel only 30-40 Rs. of fuel gets converted into useful work, rest gets wasted into heat and other losses.
On other hand electric motors have more that 95% efficiency. Hence from engineering point of view standalone efficiency of electric vehicles are better than conventional vehicles.
Thermal efficiency of ICE is only in the range of 30-45 % for stage of art engines. It means, if we fill 100 Rs. of fuel only 30-40 Rs. of fuel gets converted into useful work, rest gets wasted into heat and other losses.
On other hand electric motors have more that 95% efficiency. Hence from engineering point of view standalone efficiency of electric vehicles are better than conventional vehicles.
4) Quick Vehicle acceleration: ICE having inherent property that it takes some time after start before reaching required torque. But electric motor can provide instant initial torque at zero RPM, hence it can provides quick acceleration.
5) Good reliability: Reliability of total system depends upon reliability of individual parts within assembly. Since traction motor having very lesser parts than ICE, hence traction motors having good reliability.
6) Torque vectoring:
In case of ICE vehicles, engine very limited role in controlling stability of vehicle during cornering. But in case EV, electric motor has faster torque response and can provide negative torque which can be utilized to provide stability of vehicle.
7) Lesser Cost of ownership: Conventional ICE vehicle requires frequent servicing like changing coolant, oil, filter elements which adds total cost of ownership.
While electric vehicle doesn’t requires any of this, also electric vehicles having very less moving parts hence total cost of ownership of EVs are very less as compared to ICE vehicles. 5) Good reliability: Reliability of total system depends upon reliability of individual parts within assembly. Since traction motor having very lesser parts than ICE, hence traction motors having good reliability.
6) Torque vectoring:
In case of ICE vehicles, engine very limited role in controlling stability of vehicle during cornering. But in case EV, electric motor has faster torque response and can provide negative torque which can be utilized to provide stability of vehicle.
7) Lesser Cost of ownership: Conventional ICE vehicle requires frequent servicing like changing coolant, oil, filter elements which adds total cost of ownership.
8) Better Dynamics : In case of ICE vehicle, most times engine situated at front of vehicle , which actually creates lots of imbalance . However in case of electric vehicles, since entire battery pack situated at center and below passenger cabin hence Center of gravity naturally situated at center of vehicle and its lower than conventional vehicles.
Hence these vehicles are better from vehicle dynamics point of view.
9) Future proof and better control: This is distinct advantage of EV I feel since everything is electronically controlled they are having better control. Hence EV’s are better compactable for connected cars, Autonomous vehicle etc.
Hence electric vehicles are laden with lots of advantages over electric vehicles, hence they have promising future in automotive industry. Having said that, electric vehicles having many limitations which is still preventing mainstream choice for both customers and OEM's specially in India.
vLimitations of of Electric vehicles:
We have listed so many parameters telling how EV’s are better than ICE. However what is strong points of ICE which is holding fast adaptation of EV’s.
Below are some of the key points which hinders fast growth of EV’s.
A) Customer Centric Issues: These are the reasons which actually affects customer and due to which customers are refraining from buying EV’s.
1) Range anxiety (energy density of batteries):
Range anxiety means driver of electric vehicle feels that charge state of battery is low, it create fear of getting stranded somewhere which adds inconvience to journey.
One of the major hurdle in the widespread use of EV’s is range anxiety.
In Indian scenario car is purchased not only for city travel but for long journey once in while. Thanks to improved road infrastructure, during long journey travel of 400 Km is quite normal these days. So Electric vehicles should have around 400-500 KMs .
Now to increase this range, you need to have larger battery size which increases cost of vehicle proportionally. So OEM's can provide you this extra range with increase in cost, but question is that whether customers are willing to pay this extra cost for extra range.
Basic problem with range of EV’s are energy storage capacity of battery as compare to conventional fuels like petrol, diesel or CNG.
Below graph shows relative difference between energy storage capacity of different types of fuels. Energy content per unit weight and volume are calculate relative to Gasoline fuel i.e. value for gasoline is considered as 1.
Simple way to look graph is,
- All energy sources which are at left to gasoline requires more space for storage (for same amount of energy) than Gasoline, while energy sources at right to gasoline requires less space.
- All energy sources which are upward side of gasoline can be lighter than gasoline(for same amount of energy), while which are at downward side needs to be heavier than gasoline.
If we see battery as energy source its required to be both heavier and requires more space than gasoline fuels. Which is main reason behind range anxiety.
(values for these taken from Energy density comparison of several transportation fuels
Credit: U.S. Energy Information Administration)
2) Charging time:
Time required for filling petrol / diesel is hardly 5 minutes, however to completely charge EV it takes 8-10 hours by normal charger. By fast charger it still takes 30-60 mins for charging upto 80% of charge. So its distinct disadvantages of EVs.
One of the technology discussed currently is battery swapping technology , if gets commercialized can help widespread use of electrical vehicles.
3) Lack of Charging Infrastructure:
Electric vehicles can be charged through household charging arrangement or dedicated charging stations. If you compare no. of charging stations with no. of petrol pumps, it’s no way near in India. Also situation is same most of the countries globally.
Below graph shows no. of charging station per 100 KM for major countries.
(Image: Number of electric vehicle charging stations per 100 km of paved road
Credit: Statista)
Its shows Netherlands is leading in terms of no. of charging stations. Current situation for charging infrastructure in India is very poor. Even though government had announced to push for infrastructure, still it will take considerable time.
Union Transport Minister Mr. Nitin Gadkari has announced to set up one e-charging kiosk at around 69,000 petrol stations across India, furthering the government's plan to make India an electric vehicle nation by 2030. Also there have been several talks for making mandatory for societies to keep provisions for charging station.
Similarly there are other plans under FAME policies, however it will still take time to improve current situation in India.
In order to provide adequate range OEM’s need to provide larger size batteries which makes it’s costlier than its petrol or diesel counterpart. If we take example of most affordable EV in market i.e. Nexon Price of Nexon EV is almost double than its petrol counterpart. Hence its add major initial investment for customers.
Considerable government’s assistance & high amount of localization is required to bring cost so that its competitive with petrol or diesel counterparts.
Considerable government’s assistance & high amount of localization is required to bring cost so that its competitive with petrol or diesel counterparts.
Overall all these 4 points actually affects customer’s buying decision, hence improvement in these points is very important so that customer will prefer buying electric vehicles.
EV’s are clean way of mobility, however this is true only if the way electricity is produced is clean. For example if particular country produces electricity through renewable sources like wind, solar or hydrothermal energy then we can say EVs are way of clean mobility.
However if you consider Indian scenario, out of total energy produced 75% of energy produced is by thermal power plant. Which are either coal fired or gas fired. These thermal power plants run at lesser efficiency and produces considerable toxic gases.
Also these power plants are far behind than conventional ICE in terms of emissions regulation they produced. So we are reducing pollution at one place while it might increase pollution at other sources. Hence if we want to make EV’s viable, energy generation needs to be adopted clean ways. i.e. Hydro electric, Wind and solar etc.
2) Well to wheel efficiency:
In continuation with previous point , If we want to do apple to apple comparison between EV and ICE, we need to calculate what is called as ‘Well to Wheel efficiency’. (illustration for the same given in below image)
It's clear form figure than we can call EV's as ‘Green Vehicle’ only if way electricity is generated is cleaner. Hence it’s absolutely important to have ‘Well to Wheel efficiency of EV’s better than ICE.
Let’s take example of Denmark where most of the energy generated by non conventional methods or Tesla Supercharger network where its planned to generate energy by Solar.
In this situation transition from ICE vehicle to EV vehicles will give intended benefits since well to wheel efficiency of EV in such cases will be better than ICE. So If we consider India’s scenario, we are far behind achieving this efficiency hence its caution approach needs to be taken.
B) OEM centric / Country centric points:
Below are some of the points which may not affect customer directly but these important during transition to electric vehicles.
1) Scarcity of clean electricity:
1) Scarcity of clean electricity:
You might have seen this picture many times on social media which effectively depicts situation of EV transition.
EV’s are clean way of mobility, however this is true only if the way electricity is produced is clean. For example if particular country produces electricity through renewable sources like wind, solar or hydrothermal energy then we can say EVs are way of clean mobility.
However if you consider Indian scenario, out of total energy produced 75% of energy produced is by thermal power plant. Which are either coal fired or gas fired. These thermal power plants run at lesser efficiency and produces considerable toxic gases.
Also these power plants are far behind than conventional ICE in terms of emissions regulation they produced. So we are reducing pollution at one place while it might increase pollution at other sources. Hence if we want to make EV’s viable, energy generation needs to be adopted clean ways. i.e. Hydro electric, Wind and solar etc.
In continuation with previous point , If we want to do apple to apple comparison between EV and ICE, we need to calculate what is called as ‘Well to Wheel efficiency’. (illustration for the same given in below image)
It's clear form figure than we can call EV's as ‘Green Vehicle’ only if way electricity is generated is cleaner. Hence it’s absolutely important to have ‘Well to Wheel efficiency of EV’s better than ICE.
Let’s take example of Denmark where most of the energy generated by non conventional methods or Tesla Supercharger network where its planned to generate energy by Solar.
In this situation transition from ICE vehicle to EV vehicles will give intended benefits since well to wheel efficiency of EV in such cases will be better than ICE. So If we consider India’s scenario, we are far behind achieving this efficiency hence its caution approach needs to be taken.
(Ref for article : kleebinder.net)
3) Technology availability:
Technology required for electric vehicles is relatively new, as compared to IC engines which is very much stabilized and most of OEM’s have expertise in it. So technology development will be challenge for OEM’s.
4) Lack of supplier ecology:
Conventional IC engine requires thousands of part which are supplied by local suppliers . Hence supplier ecology is very much settled and its cost effective as well.
You might have seen news about global chip shortage, its very good example how automotive industry depends on global supply for such key components which are not locally assembled.
On similar note if EV’s come to full swing, very robust supplier ecology for battery/ motor manufacturer needs to be build. Currently its totally dependent on outside supplier, which needs to be improved.
5) New Unknown Problems of EV:
a) Lithium ores: As we say that oil reserves are limited, so does the lithium ores.
Hence , as number EV’s increasing with demand for batteries will also go up with that availability of ores would get exhausted.
One battery cell in EVs have a few grams of lithium that can at best be termed equivalent to half a teaspoon of sugar. An EV can have 5,000 battery cells which requires 10 kg of lithium. One tonne of lithium can help meet the demand of 90 electric cars. About 60,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent are required to produce one million electric cars.
One battery cell in EVs have a few grams of lithium that can at best be termed equivalent to half a teaspoon of sugar. An EV can have 5,000 battery cells which requires 10 kg of lithium. One tonne of lithium can help meet the demand of 90 electric cars. About 60,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent are required to produce one million electric cars.
India is handicapped by very less lithium resources, most of ores needs to be imported.
On one hand we want to reduce import of oil but we end up in importing more lithium.
But it will soon have its first lithium refinery that will be set up by Manikaran Power Limited, a power trading and renewable energy company, at an outlay of about Rs 1,000 crore in Gujarat. The refinery will import ore from Australia and refine it for use by lithium-ion battery makers. A few battery makers are planning to set up units in Gujarat and they will likely gain from this. This will help Indian EV producers to source batteries locally rather than import from China, Japan, Korea or Taiwan as is being done now.
b) Disposal of Battery: Battery disposal is also one of the major concern which is not currently in matured stage, which needs to be properly planned.
But it will soon have its first lithium refinery that will be set up by Manikaran Power Limited, a power trading and renewable energy company, at an outlay of about Rs 1,000 crore in Gujarat. The refinery will import ore from Australia and refine it for use by lithium-ion battery makers. A few battery makers are planning to set up units in Gujarat and they will likely gain from this. This will help Indian EV producers to source batteries locally rather than import from China, Japan, Korea or Taiwan as is being done now.
b) Disposal of Battery: Battery disposal is also one of the major concern which is not currently in matured stage, which needs to be properly planned.
Overall to summarize, there are very promising advantage of EV which makes them hot favorite in Automotive industry. But at the same time blind transition to EV is not possible and not advisable also.
Hence very holistic approach should be followed by government and OEM's during transition to electric vehicles.
So this is it, I hope you are finding these blogs of electric vehicle interesting and helpful. Please free for any feedback or questions related to blogs. We will meet again with some other interesting topic.
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