The Uncleanliness of Clean Energy
Who will save the Planet?
Do Electric Vehicles have a future?
Why do humans miss out on identifying Underlying trends?
“A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer’s hand.”
― Seneca, Words of Roman Stoic Philosopher
Words of wisdom are seldom listened to, imbibed, or followed by few who lay their firm belief on “means to an end.” Like many, these words of famous stoic have also fallen on deaf years for generations and continue to be ignored by the present generation.
Let’s probe for pertinence in history.
In 1783, after profitably controlling and ruling various parts and areas of the United States (referred to the modern-day US, and erstwhile multiple individual states with non-presence of Unified United States) as their colony for nearly quarter to two centuries, Britishers gave away control in 1783 to the newly formed Democracy- The United States of America.
The colonial masters in Great Britain were not happy and got even hungrier and ruthless. They wished to subjugate parts of the World that were left, largely controlled and monitored by Dutch, French, and Portuguese till such day.
Britishers signed an Anglo-Dutch Treaty in 1814, on account of which Dutch gave up and ceded their rights on two of the most important geographies, rich with mineral resources, rich with culture, and rich with values — The Indian Sub-continent and the Continent of Africa.
They entered Africa through the Cape of South Africa and expanded their control on a large part of the continent. Britishers looked at Africa, as a single country, a large land parcel open to meet their requirements of raw material which surged after the Industrial Revolution, and a ready market to flood their end good back in the continent, thereby plundering all the resources and wealth parallelly.
As Britishers expanded their regime under the Crown, they faced resistance from a tribe called Ndebele and their king named Lobengula, who was people-friendly and loved & adored by his subjects. Lobengula ruled a region called Matabele (modern-day Zimbabwe). He kept postponing, finding alternates, exploring options other than the direct conflict, the battle, the war, until one day, when he realized, War is inevitable.
Lobengula was prepared and he quickly mustered a strong army of 80,000 spearman, 20,000 riflemen and was ready to fight 750 member British troops and 700 member allied forces troops supporting Britishers.
Nearly one lac natives against 1450 oppressors, with home terrain advantage to Ndebele tribe.
The battle was fought for a few months in 1893 and finally, in 1894, the tribe lost, despite resources, despite knowledge, despite will & determination (Ndebele were fighting for survival).
The catalyst was the Maxim gun or Machine Gun which was recently invented by British inventors a few months ago and was used for the first time against the Ndebele tribe. The gun could fire over 30 -40 rounds per minute.
50 soldiers with 4 Maxim Guns of British troops were crushing 5000 members of the Ndebele tribe. The result was a decisive victory for Britishers, breaking the Matabele region into pieces killing thousands of tribal with less than ten (absolute number 10) soldiers of British troops being injured during the War.
What happened to the Ndebele tribe happened in the EV segment as well, not today but nearly two centuries ago. Electric Vehicles or popularly known as EVs are believed to be a recent phenomenon.
The first EV came into existence in 1834 and the first on-road fully functional EV with 6 passenger load was running on the streets in 1890.
In 1900, when 4200 automobiles were sold in the US, 38% were EVs, 22% were ICEVs (Internal Combustion Engine Vehicle), and 40% were steam-powered vehicles.
Henry Ford decimated the EVs completely by the 1930s and EVs became history, whilst Oil Cartels never allowed EVs to surge back nearly for half a century.
EVs now are back in fashion, promising a cleaner solution, to mobility.
Is that the case?
What’s the reality behind EVs?
The most important aspect of an EV is Battery as one understands. Batteries constitute nearly one–third of the total EV cost. That’s not the only challenge.
Problems other than the cost are twofold.
1. Re-usability or Life of the Battery:
If the Battery needs to remain charged for covering longer distances, the battery becomes heavier (as per current technology). If the battery becomes heavier, it takes a higher power to carry the weight of the battery and the battery needs longer hours to charge. The only way to reduce the charging time is to increase the Wattage for Power charging. As Wattage increases, the life of the battery reduces, thus the battery becomes redundant frequently.
Recycling is limited as batteries across vehicles are not standardized and it becomes suboptimal for anyone to collect, segregate and then recycle. Since all kinds of batteries are put together for recycling the wastage and inefficiencies remain high.
2. Health Hazards:
The second biggest problem of Batteries is metals needed to produce the battery- Cadium, Cobalt, Lead, Lithium, and Nickel. The below table shows the harmful effect of all these metals on humans.
The problem doesn’t end there. Lithium which is one of the most common words associated with batteries and EVs is only produced in 8 countries, of which 3 countries Chile, Australia, and China account for nearly 85% of total Lithium Production.
About 58% of the world’s lithium reserves are in Chile and lithium mining uses nearly 65% of the water in the country’s Salar de Atamaca region, one of the driest desert areas in the world, to pump out brines from drilled wells. The locals and the flora fauna are completely on the edge due to the paucity of water in the region.
Similarly, 50% of world cobalt reserves are extracted from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Nearly 20% of cobalt supplied from the Congo comes from artisanal mines where child labor with up to 40,000 children work in extremely dangerous conditions in the mines for a meager income. (Source: UNICEF).
What is the Solution Then?
FCEV — Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle:
The FCEV in very layman terms has a power generator mechanism inside the Vehicle and uses Hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity which powers/drives the Vehicle and Water is left as the only residue. During Low load drive period, the battery gets in energy recovery mode and uses the recouped energy when the vehicle is in High Load drive mode. This methodology makes the vehicle sustain for longer periods of time.
India and Japan both are working in FCEV technology as it tackles two problems. Gargantuan Oil bill of over USD 100 billion a year for India and Pollution which is impacting (decelerating) India’s GDP nearly by ~ 5% every year.
Unfortunately, the economies of scale are still not in favor of hydrogen Vehicles as the New Cartels and capitalist Czars of BEV (Battery Electric Vehicles) continue to rake moolah under the garb of protecting Mother Earth. Eventually, the world will realize and recognize that the only way to clean Mobility is Hydrogen based vehicles, until then cycle of Greed, fear& envy will continue to rule.
