Electric charging points are mushrooming in the
Western world and so is the visibility of electric vehicles on our roads with an
ever increasing frequency.
Of course, electric cars do not pollute the
environment with carbon emissions; there is no sound pollution either, as their
presence on roads is hardly audible.
The question that comes to my mind – and of course, to
many minds on the same wavelength too - however, is about the way these charging
points get electricity when the EV market booms.
Then all of a sudden, I heard a mild outburst from
someone at the top of the motor industry by complete coincidence that fully
resonated with my curiosity – and that of many.
The well-admired American philosopher, Ralph Waldo
Emerson, in one of his famous essays, Self-Reliance, shed light on the
mysterious psychic phenomenon like this about 200 year ago:
“To believe your own thought, to believe that what
is true for you in your private heart is true for all … That is genius,” he
writes. “Speak your latent conviction, and it shall be the universal sense; for
the inmost in due time becomes the outmost.”
The curiosity over the source of energy is not just
my private thought; it is something felt by millions of people who also love
cleaner energy in a sustainable manner. In due course, based on Emerson’s
universal assertion, I thought this would take a global dimension in few years.
In fact, it happened much more quickly than I
thought it would!
This is what Akio Toyoda, the CEO of Japanese car
giant, Toyota and the grandson of the founder of the company said at a crucial
news conference on Thursday:
“Japan would run out of electricity in the summer if
all cars were running on electric power. The infrastructure needed to support a
100 percent EV fleet would cost Japan between 14 trillion and 37 trillion yen
($135 billion to $358 billion), he estimated. And most of the country’s
electricity is generated by burning coal and natural gas, anyway, so it’s not
necessarily helping the environment,” said he on Thursday at a news conference.
In short, he does not seem to be prepared to embrace
the EV hype yet, while knowing the ground realities; he simply took a swipe at
politicians for emotionalising the issue.
Mr Toyoda called a spade a spade without mincing his
words.
Does electricity come from the renewables or
non-renewables to power the EVs?
Here in the United Kingdom, more than 20% of
electricity is generated from wind energy and 54% of the same from renewable
sources; we have crossed the half-way mark, which seemed an impossible feat, a
decade ago.
In order to achieve this goal, the United Kingdom is
blessed with its geography: it’s a set of isles with plenty of consistent wind
patterns, especially in the North; the island-location makes the UK the best place
for generating electricity from the wind.
An extensive network of off-shore wind farms has
been making a significant contribution to national electricity needs for years.
On-shore wind farms, however, have to overcome
considerable resistance from the locals, who see them as an eyesore despite
their obvious advantages. In addition, the noise and being prone to damages,
especially in stormy weathers, make them a bit jittery about their installation
in rural areas.
Unfortunately, most countries in Europe are not in
this enviable position; that means, they still have to rely on non-renewables
to power their electric grids. The
reality is it will take years, if not decades, to turn our back on oil and gas
the – the main source of renewable energy.
The governments have to think about millions of
people employed in the sector and myriad of dependents on the same.
Even in California, where the evolution of EV
vehicles sprang up, buoyed by the innovative technological advances that the
region offers, renewable energy just accounted for 32% electricity in 2018.
Against this backdrop, the issue of generation of electricity
has become the elephant in the room in the days of the EV boom: even experts
avoid highlighting the vital fact that is an integral part of the EV tale; the unpopular
fact that more than 50% of electricity needs of most countries still comes from
fossil fuel.
In short, fossil fuels are here to stay for at least
few decades.
The industry has a responsibility too as there is a
serious risk for its survival in the current form: not to let researching on
possibilities of making cleaner fuels be eclipsed by relentless pursuit of
profits and not mimicking ostrich when the issue comes up at regular intervals.
