Electric vehicles are becoming a common sight on the roads. But like every new technology, the switch to EV’s also raises some questions. In this case, one of the major concerns is: Will charging of electric cars overload the power grid?
The answer to this question – as with many other mobility challenges – depends on planning and technology. But first, let us understand what is at stake.
"We’re coming to Norway,” begins an advertisement for General Motors, an American carmaker. Supposedly enraged by the Nordic nation easily surpassing America in electric vehicles (evs) per person, Will Ferrell, a comedian, sets off over land and sea to deliver the challenge to Norwegians, only to be told, after several mishaps along the way, that he has in fact arrived in Sweden.
Germany’s goal of putting 15 million battery electric vehicles (BEVs) on the road by 2030 is currently behind schedule as the global automotive industry struggles to procure key components such as microchips and the basic raw materials used in the manufacture of high voltage batteries including the elements lithium, nickel and cobalt.
Surging raw materials costs, made worse by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, could set back the dream of Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk and other auto executives to roll out more affordable electric vehicles.
Rising prices of nickel, lithium, and other materials threaten to slow and even temporarily reverse the long-term trend of falling costs of batteries, the most expensive part of EVs, hampering the broader adoption of the technology, said Gregory Miller, an analyst at industry forecaster Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.
The growing demand for electric vehicles is upending the automotive supply chain at a time when it was already stressed by the coronavirus pandemic, rising material prices and semiconductor shortages.
The industry's push for new technologies and solutions is enormous, and R&D work is underway around the industry.
During 2019 and 2020, the world's top 20 automakers alone spent nearly $94 billion on R&D as EV product plans take hold, according to a report last year by the financial firm BDO.
Development of fully electric systems will be the most important technical route for the automotive industry's low-carbon development in the medium and long term, industry insiders said.
"Carmakers and consumers should pay close attention to PHEV and HEV vehicles, which have excellent performance in carbon reduction," said Feng Xingya, president of GAC Group, a carmaker headquartered in Guangzhou.
Chongqing Changan Automobile Co. and BAIC Motor Corp., China's fourth- and fifth-largest automakers, announced in October and this month that they'll end deliveries of petroleum-powered cars by 2025. A target for hybrids and electric vehicles to be 90 percent of Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd.'s sales by 2020 is still on track, according to a company presentation last week, despite making up about 1.5 percent of the total in the first half.
A few months ago, the 24-year-old personal wealth manager decided his next car was going to be electric and was mulling offerings from BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz. Instead, he plumped for a Model 3 made by Elon Musk's Tesla.
That decision had little to do with the cars and more with the charging networks. What swayed him was Tesla's proprietary Supercharger network.
Despite being one of the largest auto manufacturers in the world, having hybrids variants of almost every car they make, and being one of the first companies to adopt battery technology, with the Prius back in 1997, Toyota has yet to release a single fully electric vehicle. And, until recently, it hasn’t really been making concrete plans towards the idea of developing EVs to integrate into its lineup.
