Are we investing in the right technologies?

For a country faced with rising fuel costs as well as air pollution issues Electric vehicles are going to be the "technology of necessity" rather than a "technology of choice" in the very near future. Besides numerous startups almost all existing Auto companies in India have either invested, are in the process of investing or have a clear roadmap in terms of how they want to invest in this technology which will mark a paradigm shift in terms of not only how the vehicles of the future would look and operate but also in terms of the associated components and technologies. Goes without saying but these new components like batteries, electric motors, chargers, controllers etc. could witness massive growth in the not so distant future. In the battery space we have witnessed an increasing adoption of Li - Ion batteries. However for any new technology to be deemed a mega success there are 3 key questions that need to be addressed before mass adoption:-

• Significant improvement in terms of productivity and hence TCO over the existing technologies? A typical Li-Ion battery stores 150 watt-hours of electricity in 1 kilogram of battery, compared to NiMH Battery pack (100 watt-hours per kg) or Lead Acid Battery (25 watt-hours per kg). With 1.5 - 6 X improvement on this front compared to the other existing technologies Li-Ion batteries pass this test.
• In general safe to operate? Li-Ion batteries are highly susceptible to thermal runaway which in layman terms basically means that a cell, or area within the cell, achieves elevated temperatures due to thermal failure, mechanical failure, internal/external short circuiting, and electrochemical abuse. At elevated temperatures, decomposition of the cell begins and the self-heating rate of the cell is greater than the rate at which heat can be dissipated to the surroundings which leads to fire as witnessed in the recent Ola incident and many more globally before that!
• Based on raw materials that are abundantly available and hence provide long term sustainable solutions? While Lithium is not a known rare earth metal most of the known lithium supply is in Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, Australia and China so while it may not classify as a "rare earth metal" its also not as widely available as some of the other metals which leads to the obvious question on whether this is something worth investing the future of EV's in ?

As India races to become a $ 5 trillion economy many such new "micro industries" and technologies will play a key role in that achievement. Investing in the "right associated technologies" is hence imperative in not only ensuring long term sustainable growth of that particular technology but also in some cases will have a major influence on how the associated industry itself (like EV's in this case) shapes up in terms of growth.

In these times of social media where perceptions about anything new is made / destroyed pretty quickly can the "EV industry afford an unsafe tag" even as it fights the adoption battle? Something worth a discussion ....

#Electricvehicles #makeinindia