How much time is left?
Having attained an age of 60 years, my driving capability is on the decline, especially in the Indian roads and cities. One needs a quick reflexes, coolness to the persistent honking behind, an awareness of fluid lane boundaries. These qualities are slowly fading in me. So, I have another five years of driving left in me at the most. With only five years left, will I ever drive an electric car?
Why crave for an electric car?
In the prime years of my career, I had chances of operating both diesel lift trucks and electric lift trucks. Excepting clanking noise of power relays in electric trucks, the noise was almost minimum in them. As an ardent follower of environmental issues, I like to use accessories that would help reduce pollution and noise. So, let me summarize the reasons.
- Virtually no pollution; No carbon emissions
- Considerably reduced noise and vibration; Reciprocating engines emit a lot of these
- Astonishing energy efficiency; More than 50% of energy dissipated to cooling and exhaust system in an engine(please see my energy calculations in a section at the end)
Is an electric car available now?
Yes. An Indian manufacturer from Bangalore is selling electric car Reva in India and Europe. Though selling for the last seven years in India, sale volume has not picked up. It had a few engineering problems immediately after the launch. The body was flimsy. The price was not attractive for a two adults and two kids car. Seating was cramped. The max speed was 40 km/hr. It was not reliable. Though the company made many improvements later, the stigma stuck. I did not opt for this one, when I purchased my gasoline car. Honda is marketing Hybrid car in India. The cost is more than twice of an equivalent conventional car. I can not afford Honda Hybrid. I want a car both for long drive and city drive. Reva does not meet this requirement.
Types of purely electric cars
There are three types. They are:
- Powered by electric batteries chargeable by electric outlets
- Powered by electric batteries chargeable by hydrogen fuel cells
- Powered by electric batteries chargeable by solar panels
These types of car are still in development and Nissan announced Nissan Leaf to be launched end 2010. This car falls in type 1. Please click here to know more about this car. The above picture is a view of prototype of a future Nissan Leaf.
Wait is longer
The wait would be longer than five years to see a truly affordable electric car with proper logistic infrastructure in India. Most probably, I will not be able to drive an electric car.
Energy Calculations
Nissan Leaf specification says that a fully charged car will drive 160 kms without recharging. Energy of a fully charged batteries in that car is 24 kWh. Energy required to drive this car per kilometer is 0.15 kWh/km (24/160).
Let us take a mid sized gasoline car. It will give a mileage of 15 kms/liter. Energy in a liter of gasoline is 9.67 kWh. Energy required to drive this car per kilometer is 0.65 kWh/km (9.67/15).
Energy requirement for a gasoline car is nearly four times that of an electric car. What a saving!
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