EV Ground Reality & Business Opportunities

#EV is a buzzword, around the world; for various obvious & logical reasons. An image shown above, went viral on WhatsApp & it speaks a loud about #"EV Ground Reality & Opportunities". The question on EV's stuck in this jam is, 'what's priority for the passengers?' Heat up the car for Survival in cold? or Reserve the charge to drive home? Can some agency help in logistics of charging batteries in this situation, that too in some logical timeline !! all questions are unanswered, as on Date !!

The Key issue for EV usage; is it's 1) Cost 2) Charging time & 3) Range 4) Battery replacement Cost. Actually weight is another issue, but designers will take care of it & is not a burden on customer's shoulders. Let's think of customers who can afford the present cost. Really speaking; this market segment is encouraging investments & decides direction of research & growth. The real anxiety is the range & charging time, which has apparently frozen the way forward. The researchers has a challenge to melt it & allow the free flow into the market.

Charging time of EVs are in hours Vs biofuel, which is in minutes & Range of the order of 200 to 300 km in one charge, limits EVs usage to a short range of travels. However, market itself declares it's choice; by using #EV-Taxis, e.g. Delhi #EV-auto shuttling between metro station to known destination, Zoo or airports etc. #Kartarpur Corridor is one of such successful case, where, fleet of EV-Autos are shuttling between Kartapur, India to Darbar sing Saheeb in Pakistan.

Big difference was created by Electric Overhead traction lines used for trains & are being extended for road vehicles with defined path or added with IC engines to extend range further. Road Transport with overhead traction lines which is present at many places, need to expand, which pose Obvious challenge to the Auto-manufacturing #OE's. Interesting disruption is not a technical each time. A strategic disruption is seen with #Ro-Transporters, which use electric train network; to transport many trucks for a long distance, relieving roads from congestion, while carrying out door to door delivery by trucks. A magic of 15 seconds #flash-charging, by 600 KW overhead lines; used by Swiss buses; suffice them to run to next destination, while full charge is possible within 4-5 min. In short, customer itself is generating a pull in market & creating space for business.

EV movement has started almost a decade before, however, the leading country like Norway, is still away from complete electrification of vehicles. Stock of registered passenger vehicles in Norway as on 30th Sep 21, as per google; shows 14.5 % Pure electric, while 5.9 % is a #Plug-In-Hybrid. 5% of it's market is pulled in by Conventional #hybrids. It's good enough to explain need of #Plug-in-hybrid solution until the new technologies resolve basic issues. China is biggest EV market & the story is similar, while whole world is following both of them; in this regard.

Global Average for car usage is limited to ~ 15 km per trip & ~ 30kmph speed requirement, as per some survey on Google. In cities, people travel for ~ 100-150 km distance at @ 30-50 kmph speeds. But, occasionally; cars are used for long drive & range becomes hurdle, adding anxiety. #Plug-in-Hybrid ( EV+IC engines ) really relieves the customer, if he wish to use car for long range. There is one brilliant solution by #LIGHTYEAR, using solar backup & has given range of 710km with 60kWh & is much promising, compared to 360km best EV available to date. This exercise was done at a lower speed ( ~80 kmph ) & better driving practices, which are different than Fuel vehicles. We need to ask a question to ourselves, do all of us race on highways ! In fact, the smart usage of driving habits; is already in use to benefit Battery changing, by #regenerative-braking, etc.

Interesting way of lowering running cost of EV is coming up in Europe is by use of clients spread across the city. The cars fitted with #solar-roof-top are connected to supply grid during idle hours, i.e. noon; office parking, in most of the cases. The cars do charge it's own battery & also, partially supply back to the grid recovering some cost. It's really innovative concept to utilize client base as a battery backup !

It will be injustice if we don't consider 2 & 3 wheeler market, which is truly leading Indian continent. Various data sites show, that Indian Auto sector is at it's fastest rate of growth. Passenger vehicles contribute the market, by ~ 16%, three wheeler ~ 4 %, while #2-wheelers share 76 %. However, another data shows #3-wheelers has ~66 % share in EV, 2 wheeler has ~31% & 4 wheeler has ~3.5%. 2 & 3 wheelers are truly used for limited range & naturally riding the wave generated by middle class. Most of the taxi segments generate maximum pull for EVs, it will increase with enhancements in technologies. Few experiments like #battery-swapping, solar or innovative battery designs ( #Al-Air or other), are going to boost it more.

EV has really sparked the creative minds, #aftermarket-EV-business; too, have taken up the opportunity. Conversion of Biofuel cars to EV, using standard kits is going to solve the issue of old cars! This itself, is a huge market & will generate many small business units; across world. The research is not really confined to few pockets and with right business approach, thousands of minds have joined the race, like a Big-Bang.

In short; the transition phase is extremely interesting for investors, researchers & expect more strategic support from governments, to develop infrastructure and to boost core development or Retro Business; to give second life to present vehicles. Business Strategies, Breakthrough technologies etc. will generate a big Pull from market, than Push.