The ground reality for electrification

Issue #87, June 6th, 2021

The ground reality or the path to electric, autonomous vehicles could be different from what experts have envisaged. Some recent updates in the industry indicate the same. Academics for example feel that we may never see fully autonomous cars, unless Artificial Intelligence sees some major breakthroughs. India is planning to replace 20% of gasoline with organic ethanol to reduce the dependence on oil. Vintage cars and other modes of transport running on oil are converted in bulk to electric vehicles. EVs may be quiet but that could be a challenge for citizens with disabilities. Michelin has been working on the perfect tires for an EV, recyclable and data generating. Below are some recent updates that show how the we are moving towards a world of electric, autonomous driving.

Decades for autonomous driving

In 2015, Elon Musk said self-driving cars that could drive “anywhere” would be here within two or three years. In 2016, Lyft CEO John Zimmer predicted they would “all but end” car ownership by 2025. In 2018, Waymo CEO John Krafcik warned autonomous robocars would take longer than expected. In 2021, some experts aren’t sure when, if ever, individuals will be able to purchase steering-wheel-free cars that drive themselves off the lot. In contrast to investors and CEOs, academics who study AI, systems engineering and autonomous technologies have long said that creating a fully self-driving automobile would take many years, perhaps decades. Now some are going further, saying that despite investments already topping $80 billion, we may never get the self-driving cars we were promised. At least not without major breakthroughs in AI. - WSJ

Clean energy mixing ethanol with petrol

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday raised his bet on ethanol in India’s fight against climate change by advancing the date for 20% blending of petrol by 5 years to 2025 and launching a pilot project at three Pune petrol pumps for running vehicles fully on the ‘swadeshi’ fuel. “The country is fast moving towards clean energy and we will see a great benefit from this (rapid ethanol blending), especially in the agriculture sector," he said addressing a function to mark World Environment Day. - ET Auto

Mass conversion to EVs

Owners of vintage sports cars and hot rods are giving them a second life by installing recycled Tesla powertrains. Gasoline-to-EV conversions are not new. What is new is everything else, in bulk, starting with the cargo ships of automotive-grade lithium battery packs, high-torque motors, inverters, battery-management systems and controllers now readily available to privateers—much of it being exported from China, the spindrift from that country’s tidal wave of electrification. - WSJ

IKI series on reskilling - lifelong learning in the future of work

Infosys Knowledge Institute has started a series of posts on reskilling. The most recent post is on the future of work and the role of lifelong learning. Digital technology’s top two effects in the next five years would be creating new kinds of work and helping people perform their jobs better. The two biggest motivators that drive employees are opportunities to learn and challenging work that allows them to put those skills into practice. To make sure you do not miss future posts, please do follow IKI on LinkedIn.

Tyres for EVs

Making tires for an EV is a ruthless exercise in compromise. Too much stick and the car won’t travel as far on a charge; too little, it will silently slide off the road. Exacerbating the equation is the fact that these vehicles are ponderously heavy. Michelin, however, says it has finally perfected the mix after 30 years of tinkering with its rubber recipes. If EV ranges tick slightly higher in the next few months, the battery chemists won’t deserve all the praise; save some for the tire wizards. Next: they want to make that same tire a data engine and, while they’re at it, fully recyclable. - Bloomberg

The demand threshold for Toyota's EV factory in U.S.

Toyota may shift EV production to the U.S. if demand continues to grow, Bob Carter, the company’s EVP for sales in the U.S. said, the latest sign that the Japanese carmaker is joining peers in embracing the technology. Toyota would consider production at an existing or new factory in the U.S. in response to a sustained increase in American consumers’ appetite for battery-powered vehicles, he said in an interview. The automaker has no current plans to invest in U.S. EV production, and he didn’t specify what sales threshold would justify such a move. Industrywide supply-chain issues -- including a shortage of lithium-ion batteries -- need to be resolved before Toyota could mull a decision on building EVs in the U.S., he said. - Bloomberg

Quiet EVs and the challenge for disabled

As the number of EVs on the planet’s roads increases, society will need to adapt. Extensive charging networks, for example, will need to be rolled out to meet increased demand and dispel lingering concerns around “range anxiety”. Another area where we will notice change relates to noise: As well as boasting zero tailpipe emissions, electric vehicles are far quieter than their diesel and gasoline cousins. This means less noise pollution in urban areas — clearly a good thing — but also throws up a potential challenge for other road users, especially those with sight problems. “For people who are blind or partially sighted, judging traffic can be really difficult,” Zoe Courtney-Bodgener, policy and campaigns officer at the U.K.-based Royal National Institute of Blind People, told CNBC