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![]() | #16 |
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| Re: Toyota claims going all-in on electric vehicles is bad for the environment Absolutely agree with all of these points. As a materials engineer who does understand battery chemistry well enough to judge, BEVs are just not the current solution. Lithium supply chains aside, cobalt is necessary because lithium-polymer batteries are insanely expensive because of the polymer, which is easily three to four times the price of cobalt. Not to mention, if even the majority of BEVs were plugged to charge at a time, the grid would never sustain the load. For any kind of grid-based charging system to work, the whole grid needs to be changed. I just don't see that happening very soon. For the moment I would pick a hybrid over an EV in heartbeat, and twenty years down the line I've no doubt whatsoever that a better solution will appear. |
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![]() | #17 |
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| Re: Toyota claims going all-in on electric vehicles is bad for the environment I keep hearing this Grid doesn't support but why do people don't consider the reduction of electricity requirements due to reduction in refining processes. Doesn't oil refining consuming huge electricity in itself? |
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![]() | #18 | ||
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| Re: Toyota claims going all-in on electric vehicles is bad for the environment Quote:
Secondly, Quote:
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/elect...ml#post5411923 | ||
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![]() | #19 | ||
BHPian Join Date: Oct 2022 Location: Pune
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| Re: Toyota claims going all-in on electric vehicles is bad for the environment Quote:
Quote:
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![]() | #20 |
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| Re: Toyota claims going all-in on electric vehicles is bad for the environment My grandparents used to live in one of the remote villages in Andhra, I still remember few images of me sleeping with my grandfather when I visited them in the open skies infront of our houses. Usually there will be no power at night or power was distributed for few hours in a day, then the Indian population was less than 85crores(now 140crores) I believe. There were no star hotels, no IT industry, no data centers, trains running on diesel, no fancy airports back then, I believe the power generation then was less than 20% of what we are generating today. I don't have any hard data but our power generation would have increased 5x in last 30 years, with Solar and Wind power at such low prices India would very very easily increase power generation by 20-30% in the next 10years. We are aiming for 300GW solar energy target for 2030. Lack of power generation is just non sense, similarly lack of Lithium is another nonsense, there is plenty of Lithium and new mines and mining are opened every year as more Lithium is required. How lithium production is increasing: ![]() Last edited by SKC-auto : 3rd February 2023 at 20:05. |
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![]() | #21 | ||
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| Re: Toyota claims going all-in on electric vehicles is bad for the environment Quote:
Looking at hydrogen FCs, if one looks only at the Fuel Cell, then it might seem very attractive as an option, but the sheer logistics of handling, transporting and using hydrogen make it completely unviable as a fuel source of the future. Maybe for fixed installations and large operators such as train locomotives or trunk route trucking it could be viable but definitely not for retail customers. Quote:
Regarding national grid, I don't know what you mean by it not being unified, considering the very name, NATIONAL GRID. The transfer of energy on the grids has its own exchange, where state discoms buy and sell power. Secondly, the "dirty" power grid is a misnomer, even coal plants produce electricity at efficiencies wayy higher than your average ICE car, by a factor of 2 at the very least. Just by using a "dirty" coal fired plant, one can become more efficient. In addition to that, according to latest reports, over 40% of India's energy is today clean, and this number is only improving y-o-y. And finally, coming to storage, if you have been following the news, it should not come as a surprise that GoI is not investing in lithium based energy storage, but looking at other alternatives, pumped storage being one of them. In fact the budget should have an allocation specifically for this to encourage energy storage solution exploration. | ||
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![]() | #22 |
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| Re: Toyota claims going all-in on electric vehicles is bad for the environment I think it would be useful to go through these two very well-researched and popular videos pertinent to the discussion so far. (Disclaimer: Big fan of this YouTube channel ![]() 1. 2. |
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![]() | #23 | |
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| Re: Toyota claims going all-in on electric vehicles is bad for the environment Quote:
About charging EVs, the statistics I've seen about our power grids are definitely discouraging, especially the load shedding figures, a out their ability to handle anything better than what is there right now, with capacity being built fairly slowly. Second, of course nobody would charge from 0% to 100% every time, but I think Europe and California have given some indication of what happens when too many EVs charge at the same time. Grid density, power load at specific times, number of connections all make a pretty significant difference in load and capacity. Just compare Maharashtra with Andhra Pradesh, for instance. Not to mention it's not about peak load times, it's about the constant load being generated, and a higher number of peak or close to peak times. About dirty plants, they use coal at 60% efficiency at best, that is if the combined cycle is actually operating, or even worse, lignite. 35% efficiency petrol burning is much cleaner than 60% coal. We don't use natural gas either. So I'd still take petrol over burning coal. We'll keep improving with clean energy, but we'll get there when we get there. Let's wait and watch. The national grid as well is more of a network of different grids who have different capacities and different transmission losses. They can trade power, sure, but their specs are different. So we'll see. The oldest ones will need upgrading first. Lastly, about storage, pumping storage etc are stopgaps subject to storage loss; essentially the clock ticks really quickly. So far chemical storage of some sort seems really promising, but again, too soon to say. But well, we'll be here in the next two decades, so we'll see! | |
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![]() | #24 | ||
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| Quote:
1. His point on energy sources is totally valid. If you can run your car on renewable, more power to you. 2. Scaling an electric grid isn't as easy as he makes it sound. The 5X increase didn't happen just because people wanted AC, it was an era of massive growth everywhere. And the power came from coal, gas and nuclear. The time and investment needed is vast. No more nuclear, no more gas, no more coal, and all you're left with is ultra high altitude wind, which the US can tap from the Gulf Stream. India? We can use the monsoon, but rest of the year, no idea. Solar is an option for India for sure, but cost in the long term, i.e. half-century terms needs to be addressed. And overall, his method of distributing power consumption over time is so much work that I tend to believe people would spend on infrastructure to eliminate the different costings etc than charge their cars according to a fairly complicated time model. But again, we'll be here in two decades to see. Quote:
As to the lithium, it isn't just how much is there. It's a combination of who has it: mainly the Chinese and Australia, who refines it: the Chinese, and who uses it: the Chinese! They could only set this up because of the massive money dumping that their government does, to set up all this infrastructure. Lastly, transporting lithium around, and refining it also require vast, vast amounts of energy. Not to mention that it's a tad short-sighted to think that all mines could last forever, especially of a rarer element like lithium. That's not even counting the copper, aluminium and cobalt needed. Where's it coming from is important too. Last edited by Sheel : 4th February 2023 at 08:40. Reason: Please use the EDIT or QUOTE+ (multi-quote) button instead of typing one post after another on the SAME THREAD! Thanks. | ||
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![]() | #25 | |
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| Re: Toyota claims going all-in on electric vehicles is bad for the environment Quote:
The question about lithium is 1. Is it a rare mineral? The answer is no, it is one of the most abundant minerals. 2. Can India buy lithium and refine? Yes we can buy and refine, US and other countries have already started doing. We give away all advantages to China, by delaying EVs instead of investing, and cry China took our jobs at the end. 3. Lithium needs transportation? EVs typically use <10kg of lithium for the lifetime of the car, less weight than one refuelling petrol. Petrol and Hydrogen too needs transportation, they don't magically appear at the fuel station. 4. Is lithium the only solution? May not be, all stationary storage will move to cheaper Sodium batteries or some flow batteries. 5. Where other metals come from? Ask about Aluminium from engine manufacturers, engines blocks are made of aluminium, you seem to be fine with copper consumption of FCEVs which are EVs, hybrids also have electric motors(typically 2 compared to 1 motor in most EVs). Cobalt is also used for refining oil and catalyst in FCEV, EVs like Nexon, MG ZS, Atto3 don't use Cobalt. 6. Platinum used in Hydrogen cars and electrolysis, to find out how rare it is just buy 10grams, for some reason hydrogen is the future. If it comes to EVs you are setting them against higher standards, FCEVs and Hybrids given a pass just for attending the test. Have you ever considered FCEV needs 3x more electricity than EVs, have you ever considered petrol needs electricity for refining. | |
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![]() | #26 |
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| Re: Toyota claims going all-in on electric vehicles is bad for the environment I hope all those worried about mining is not using smartphones, televisions, smartwatches, air conditioners, refrigerators and what not. Also hope you guys are all living in mud houses or huts made of renewable substances. If not, please stop this rhetoric against electric vehicles. We are building houses using crushed rocks, iron, copper which is not coming up magically from the underground stores. The only way to save the earth will be to go back to live in forests, hope none of you are willing to do that. All most every modern amenity we use is causing damage to the environment. After reading the comments across threads, it looks like the world was a paradise till now and the EV’s will result in some catastrophic damage that human beings will have to migrate out of earth! Those who support EV’s is not forcing anyone to stop buying the ICE or Hydrogen cars. We have been enlightened enough. I drive a petrol guzzler that returns 8 km/L and I don’t care a hoot about the environment to be honest. If I did, I wouldn’t be able to live now. Typing on my smartphone would have made me die of guilt thinking about an unprivileged child having to risk his life in an African mine to get the metals needed for my gadget. |
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![]() | #27 |
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| Re: Toyota claims going all-in on electric vehicles is bad for the environment If I were selling a class leading hybrid and a leader in that segment and have not a lot of plans on the EV side, I will obviously sell the idea of hybrids. What's so surprising about it? You can always use facts to make your point either way. You can use facts to suggest that petrol is better than diesel and vice-versa. Ultimately the government policies + public choices will decide what is going to happen. Not Toyota. Speaking about renewable energy, India is already getting more then 40% of its energy from renewable sources. It's hard to ignore the energy security we get from this as well as the cost advantages we have. So it's not a simple debate of what's best. The answer may be different for different countries/people. Goverment policies revolve around points like: 1. Our country's energy security policy 2. Cost of energy 3. Long term availability and security 4. Cost/Availability/Scalability to power our GDP goals 5. Cleanliness of the energy to contribute and help our climate goals 5. Risk of dependence on few companies powering a major part of the transport segment Public Choices revolve around: 1. Cost per km 2. Initial cost 3. Fun to drive factor 4. Maintainance and resale value cost 5. Sense of contribution to a larger initiative(maybe climate, etc). So, the answers may really be a combination of many technologies depending on where we stand on each of the about points. Last edited by deep_bang : 4th February 2023 at 07:11. |
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Senior - BHPian ![]() | Re: Toyota claims going all-in on electric vehicles is bad for the environment It is easy to say Toyota is merely marching to the beat of its own agenda. However, i want to put out some general questions around this. To me it seems the whole world is in the midst of an ill thought out and headlong rush towards EV’s. Do we really think EV’s are so great for the environment? Isn’t most of our electricity produced from coal? How are we going to manage potential grid overload? What is the interval at which batteries need to be replaced? What is the cost of such replacement? What are the measures taken for safe disposal of batteries? Are we sure the chemicals won’t leach into the earth or sea and thus harm the planet and all of life? |
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| Re: Toyota claims going all-in on electric vehicles is bad for the environment Cars going electric doesnt mean it will be how it is today. The batteries will change, the energy sources will change. EV drive trains themselves are not the issue. In India, hope it does not become a personal responsibility to have our own sources. Using Solar/Wind power at home will double the amount of batteries we need. You cant hope your car to be at home charging during day time. For businesses to use solar/wind would also mean the same if the grid itself is not upgraded. |
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| Re: Toyota claims going all-in on electric vehicles is bad for the environment Quote:
Any new technology has its benefits as well as problems. Just because we don't have a way to recycle the batteries, we should not say we will not adopt a certain technology right? This whole model is evolving. As the situation comes where we start to dump batteries in a large scale there will be mandatory requirements to do that. Not everything will be done one day 1. Over 40% of our energy needs are met by renewable sources. Further, India is mostly blessed by very good solar radiation which means that it's easy to scale electricity generation. I recently got a 3KW solar panel setup on my terrace and it generates enough to power my house as well as about a 100 extra units that I budgeted for my future EV. So, generation will scale up as the need arises and remember it's way way cheaper than petrol/diesel and so there is a lot of motivation to generate own electricity or generate and sell electricity models. Coming to distribution, we have a pretty decent distribution network already. If anything the problem could be pricing as it's too cheap (as it's discounted by discoms for basic usage at home) and that's why discoms don't have an incentive to maintain it as they are already losing money. However a good pricing model increasing the cost of electricity after a certain limit will help increase revenue of the discoms and then enable better infrastructure. Again - all of this can scale up slowly. We don't need all of the infra before buying the EVs. Distribution is really not a problem. Our agencies are very good and are upto it, in my humble opinion. One challenge could be battery capacities at the grid level. Coal can be burnt anytime we need power. Solar/wind power is not like that. So there will be a time gap between generating and usage. We need more battery capacity to be able to better use the generated power. This is a worldwide challenge and as solutions come up, India also will benefit. Our cars themselves live for 10 years. If the battery lasts for 10 years, and has saved the cost of petrol/diesel over 10 years, then why even worry about replacement cost. Of course we should talk about recycling cost to ensure they get recycled properly without leaching into the ground etc. Overall, the concerns you have brought up are definitely real - I don't debate that. But I am of the view that these will get solved - and hopefully in good ways. Last edited by deep_bang : 4th February 2023 at 12:12. | |
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