In the contemporary world we all are pretty familiar with the term electric car and majority of the population has now adopted it as their mode of transportation. In this time of the electric revolution I would like to do a deeper dive on the aforementioned subject, “Electric Mobility; Is that really the future?” This question has been bugging me since a long time and I haven't done a conversation with anyone upon this topic. While going through social media, I have been noticing many reels where people discuss about the whole idea about electric mobility and whether it is really a revolutionary idea or not. They have given me a thought about the real need of the so-called electric revolution which is pointless. Yeah I can definitely say that it is a blunder because, if you take a closer look at the history books, you can clearly see that the whole idea about electric cars existed way back in time, we have to turn the pages back to the seventeenth century to find the source of the origin of electric cars. It all started back in 1827 when the Hungarian priest Anyos Jedik built the first crude but viable electric motor which was used an year later to power a small car which was the very first electric car, or we can call it so.
Ever since the discovery of electric bulb, the element called electricity started playing a vital role in the life of an average individual. Ever since electricity started doing so there have been various experiments to expand the use of electricity to the different fields which could potentially be better with the use of electricity. And the whole idea of electric vehicle is one of them. Like every thing in the vast universe, electric mobility is a subject that has been gone unseen by the majority of the population until recently when it was taken back to the spotlight by some of the major personalities in the world. Say for example the South African born American business magnets and the real life Tony Stark has presented the idea of electric mobility in such an appealing way which is impressive for the public. Also as far as I am concerned it is Elon who took the first step towards the introduction of electric cars through his company, Tesla Motors.
The efficiency and the impact of Musk’s intelligence lies in the way he planned to introduce, or let me make it clear, Seduce the world, or the population with the idea of electric cars by doing things the right way. Yeah he did everything accordingly and exceptionally well. Firstly he introduced the idea of an electric car with tesla, he gave it out to the world, cheap and efficient cars along with the most important factor for the success of the whole startup, effective implementation of the charging network and its related infrastructure. Lets make it clear that I am not writing this to criticize them. Its not just tesla, but they have played the game for the first time and they have played it the best way in the lot. This move by tesla set the perfect example for the companies who followed the path of Tesla motors. After Tesla was successful in bringing up the whole electric mobility boom into the automotive industry number of other companies, almost every other company followed the lead and started creating their own derivatives of the electric iteration. Also the new trend in the automotive industry has created something that have both good and bad impact for the industry at the same time.
The introduction of electric vehicles to the automotive industry has opened up a window to the public business personalities who are seeking for a chance to test the taste of the automotive industry, which is something that had already happened back in the day when the internal combustion engines were introduced for the first time. This is a good and bad idea at the same time. On one hand this idea is good in such a way that it can be an opening window for some of the brilliant ideas yet to see from the business personalities who have the money to invest on. But in the same case, since it is opening a window to the business public anybody with an idea and some money in the pocket can start an individual electric automotive firm and produce an electric vehicle, which can have an adverse effect on the market. Too much product or the overflow of product in the market can have an adverse effect on the industry as the consumers wont be able to choose between the given choices, even if they choose they cant be sure about the quality of the choice.
The introduction of electric cars to the market has given rise to various needs throughout different segments of the global industry. I think nobody has cracked the code yet, even though many of them are trying their best to do it, affordability and accountability are the two key factors that run the idea of electric mobility. In fact the phenomenon that made me question the whole existence of electric cars and the whole idea of converting to electric for the sake of the planet is where things went off hands. Because if the environmentalists are so concerned about the nature getting polluted the first thing they should do is banning all kinds of smoking substances, like weed, tobacco and you name it. But instead they have got the hang of cars, which is an idea that is utterly non understandable. It is not understandable because of a few reasons.
Electric cars, the so called electric era is something that is a completely new idea for the automotive industry. Which means it should be started from scratch. Electric car maintenance, service, and charging infrastructure along with all the logistics movement should be implemented, and all these implementation should be made from scratch because we don't have a pre planned infrastructure for the EV environment. So for the infrastructure to be developed from scratch and for the logistical movements, they are still going to need the internal combustion engines to run. So for the environmentalists who say that internal combustion is the root cause for the pollution caused, it is still significantly less than building up a whole new ecosystem for electric cars and also it is causing maybe 10 times more pollution while mining out the raw materials for the battery packs, the logistics for that adds fuel to the fire.
So the real question comes here, is electric car really the future, the fuel of the future? There is only one answer and it obviously is a NO. Because, there is no reason to think that electric cars are really the future. Comparing with the history books, if we wanted to make an electric car we could have done that from the late 19th century which had the origin of the electric cars. As humans if it was a potential mode of transport that had a future, we could have started exploring more into it from the initial stage itself. Which gives rise to the question why now? That can be answered, only because it is now that they found out this has a potential place in market. Also according to Wikipedia the environmental impact of petroleum based It is not because that electric cars are helping to reduce the amount of pollution to the environment in many ways because they never do, if there is any thing that they do it is increasing the amount of pollution. But it is because they are having a potential to create a sudden market fluctuations and as aforementioned they can be good windows for the rookies to enter the automotive marketplace. Electric cars has their own problems if you ask me. As said above, getting together the whole infrastructure is one of the major task and ironically it is what the government and the global business big heads are up to. There are a loads of problems for that to be the most efficient and effective fuel of the future.
It is in fact the availability of electricity and the amount of pollution, along with the bulk of electric waste that is going to be generated from this in the long run is going to be one of the biggest burdens the humanity has ever faced in a while. Studies has clearly stated that there is no sufficient electric power that is going to help charge up the electric vehicle in your garage, not because the reserves are low, but because the demand is getting bigger in a large scale every single day, so there is going to be lack of electricity after the domestic and other industrial use which are the prime concerns rather than charging electric vehicles. One of the major problems is going to be the problem of batteries. Rather than just the problem of manufacturing there is another question about how long these will last for, yeah you will have a clear answer for that, say it last for the next 10-15 years, that is good, but what will you do after that.
Ok lets be more practical and consider the contemporary situation where we are witnessing the rapid growth of technology lets say if it lasts for almost 20 years, there is no idea, at least until now, about the management of the electric waste that is getting generated from this burned out batteries and even the electric cars. To make it clear, lets say an electric battery is capable of going the cent percent for 20 years. The question is what will you do to it in the 21st year. Which definitely has an obvious answer because thinking practically, this has a second life as a refurbished battery which can be used for some other purposes. But you think a bit further into the timeline, the question still exists there, what next? Yes after milking everything from the battery, still there is a certain amount of electric waste that gets generated as a byproduct and clear decisions should be made upon the management of waste produced.
In conclusion, electric cars are not the fuel of the future. While they may have some advantages, such as reducing reliance on fossil fuels, the amount of pollution and waste generated in their production and disposal outweighs any benefits. Additionally, the infrastructure needed to support electric cars is still in its early stages and not yet fully developed. This gives raise to another question what is the other alternative if electric cars are not the exact future of the fuels. That’s where I need to make my point clear. From all these arguments you should not conclude that I hate electric cars, yes as a petrol head I am not a big fan of electric cars and what I have said is that electric car production on a commercial basis is something that is not so good for the environment because of the aforementioned problems. There are researches and developments undergoing from many of the automotive manufacturers around the world on the alternative fuel for the fossil fuel and electricity.
One of those to be mentioned here is the discovery of synthetic fuel which can be manufactured artificially. Porsche, one of the top German automaker has given almost 100M USD to do the research and development upon the whole idea of synthetic fuel. In fact the united nations gave the automakers the permission to sell internal combustion engine cars with one condition that they should run on synthetic fuels which are carbon neutral. Porsche is not doing this work alone either they have joined hands with HIF Global, a company that do research about the synthetic fuels, who have a prototype factory called Haru Oni near Punta Arenas Chile. They have planned to produce something that is completely chemically identical to gasoline. The new fuel will be easy to store like you normally do and you wont have to wait until someone turns into fuel for the replenishments of the fuel table. Apart from the synthetic fuels there is another choice of using H2 as a replacement for fossil fuels but it is exactly as tough task as the case of electric vehicles if not riskier because they are highly explosive than electric cars because of the hazardous habit of hydrogen.
Now lets talk in detail about the synthetic fuel thing from Porsche. According to the official reports as mentioned above the idea of having a synthetic fuel which is an exact replacement for the fossil fuel is one of the clever ideas to have, at least for me personally it is clever, because of a bunch of reasons. Firstly as a petrolhead I can still buy a Porsche 911 GT3 RS and be a complete madman on the road with restricted environment to enjoy the car as a whole. We will have that ecstatic sound of an engine with us. The second reason is a bit technical, since the synthetic fuel is chemically identical exactly as that of the 93 octane gas this E-Fuel as Porsche calls it, is shelf stable which means it is the storage of this fuel is an easy task to deal with. As mentioned earlier it is not as time consuming process as the making of fossil fuels which means the replenishment is an easy task. Above all these, the shelf stability of this makes it easier to store and transfer as that of regular gasoline.
This ability is going to help us to cut a lot of costs when we compare it with electric cars. We wont be needing a whole new infrastructure or a newly built logistics dedicated for this thing. The companies wont have to invest another bunch of millions for the research and development of this system, the only cost for them is to make some subtle tweaks to the engine which is a requirement so as to make the new fuel compactable with the engine. We are going to save some money there. Ok On the other hand we have some cons for this as for every other thing. But this cones are not going to last forever. The only problem is the initial availability and the initial cost of the product as it is a new tech. But that is not going to be a problem anymore because once it gets popular and once it gets the run off complete things are going to be easier for everyone. At the end of the day the synthetic fuel is maybe 10 times more cost effective than electric cars and very less polluting than them too.
Many many researches has made it clear that it is better to own a 15 year old classic car rather than owning an electric car which is just collectively more polluting than that of an internal combustion engine car. In fact it is so strange how that people still think that electric vehicles are the better choice for a good environment which is a blunder and even the authorities thinks the same. As for the research of this article I went through a bunch of websites to check upon the official reports upon the researches and I was shocked to find that even the authorities even say that it is really a better option to go green with the EVs. But I really think the other way.
I am not saying that I don’t want it at all. I would like to have electric vehicles, or lets make it clear, it is better to have electric buses, trucks and trains because they are a lot more efficient. Yes you are not messing up time while travelling, taking proper breaks at charging stations and all those kind of stuff but I really think electrifying the personal cars is a joke, I would rather go for a petrolhead and as a normal citizen of the world. Also electric cars can be used as one of the exotic segments of the automotive industry, for the people who seek thrill in speed and power but want to have a calm and quiet journey, and last but not the least for people who are having a lot of money to spend on. The only thing I would like to say while concluding this article is to think for yourself while going to buy another electric vehicle for your personal choice.
