EVs, Hybrids, Synthetic Fuel: What is the future of cars?

Fully electric is fine in urban regions and where there is infrastructure. But what about rural India and the remote regions?

BHPian JDMBOI recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

As you know new policies are being implemented to curb down pollution and government officials all over the blue planet is racing to electrify the cars for carbon neutral environment but is electrification really the future?

Here is my take-

• Electric isn't the future as

• It cost more to produce electric cars.

• Lack of charging infrastructure (even road infrastructure in our country is century behind than other countries)

• Availability of millions of engine already why not use the resource available at hand. (REUSE)

• Battery replacement cost is almost equal to some new ICE cars.

• Battery life is going to degrade over years, just like smartphone.

• Waiting period of battery. Related story

• Last but not least. Can our electric power grid handle the EV boom.

Here's what BHPian payeng had to say on the matter:

Its been 3 months of owing an EV Car. All I want to say is that, I am NOT Going Back to ICE..!!

The Future (like always) will only be better.

Here's what BHPian aroy had to say on the matter:

Fully electric is fine in urban regions and where there is infrastructure. But what about rural India and the remote regions - Hills and deserts? Even in US charging is a problem in remote areas, what of India.

Here's what BHPian ferrarirules had to say on the matter:

This topic has been discussed to death on this forum again and again. Every 2-3 months, it props up as a new thread.

I will go option by option

1. Hybrid

Sorry to say but hybrid is not the future, it is the past. The technology has been available commercially in the world for last 25 years. But hybrid cars are not the final answer, had they been nobody would have invested precious dollars on researching PHEV or BEV cars. Reason just hybrid is not enough to control in urban area pollution.

I see plugin hybrids as part of the future. Plugin hybrid offers around 100 kms of standalone electric range plus they have ICE engine to drive the car when charge runs out.

Sadly no manufacturer in India is thinking about a plugin hybrid. Toyota and Maruti are happy to dupe the customers with "Smart Hybrid" in the name of hybrid tech.

2. Electric

Electric is again not the future, it is the present. By the end 2024/ early 2025, all major manufacturers would have an electric car in the portfolio in India.

Today will electric cars in India are under manufacturer warranty, we will really need to wait 8 years before majority of the current cars are out of warranty and see what the real cost to fix the car is. The batteries which are not fit for use in the car can be used for second life implementation like BeSS or can be recycled. Both will provide some level of compensation to the car owner. Soon there will be providers who will be ready to repair or replace batteries at a lower price.

The electric cars are costlier today than pure ICE cars but not costlier than hybrid cars. 35-40% cost of an electric vehicles is battery. The battery prices are coming down fast, the electric car prices will come down or not increase as much as ICE cars in the near future.

Charging infra is increasing by the day. As the demand increases, the charging infra will increase as well. Tata recently signed MoU for 17500 chargers to be installed via multiple CPOs in the coming two years. I recently travelled from Delhi to Chandigarh and back. I was spoiled for charger choices. I could pick choose a charger based on what i wanted to and where I wanted to eat.

3. Synthetic fuel

Synthetic fuel is a distant dream. Formula 1 is thinking of introducing it from 2026 so mass production would be not before 2030 that is also if the cost of producing it comes down. I would have been a better option to add Ethanol blending as an option in the poll. Toyota showcased E85 compliant Hycross this year. - link (Toyota unveils its Strong Hybrid flex-fuel Innova Hycross (upto 85% ethanol blending)). I think Green Ethanol blending is a better bet than synthetic fuel.

Here's what BHPian Sahil had to say on the matter:

World over it might be all 3 however in India it will be EVs and Alternate fuels because of the approach our ministers have on Hybrids.

Personally I would love for hybrids with big engines working in tandem with big battery packs to live on till eternity

Here's what BHPian DRPSREDDY had to say on the matter:

I have polled for electric. But you have missed out Hydrogen fuel cell in the above poll. Government of India is betting huge on Hydrogen tech and wants us to shift our future mobility there. Majorly they see Hydrogen tech for commercial long distance transportation and Electric for passenger vehicles and last mile connectivity. So it should be relevant in the polls.

Also here is my opinion I posted in another discussion about Hybrids.

Everyone believes that Hybrid is just a stop-gap arrangement. We really can't predict which of the technologies will actually survive and should see the current scenario as a 'Technology cross road'.

Even the much Perceived Hydrogen tech is complicated and not very green as thought, because extraction of Hydrogen, though abundantly available, is not easy. It is expensive and engines require precious metal like Iridium and Platinum that is not abundant.

So for the moment bet is on ICE vs EV, and in EV, it's Lithium, Manganese, Aluminium, Solid state, Sodium, etc., for which development works are in full swing. So it is fast evolving and highly speculative for the moment.

Here's what BHPian rajshenoy had to say on the matter:

While the long term future is definitely electric, I feel we will see more hybrid implementations in our market in next decade or so.

Currently my concern on EV is the charging infrastructure and the speed of charging(purely for highways). We do have EV with realistic range of 300-400kms on our roads now so I hope the technology catches up with respect to charging.

I think we are pretty sorted with respect to using EV for urban mobility as home charging will be sufficient for 90% people. I am hopeful green energy will pick up too(only way to meet the additional load of EVs on the grid)

Currently my concern is only on the highways.even if 2-3% of highway vehicles become EV, our infrastructure would crumble for sure unless we scale our charging infrastructure accordingly (say 2% of our highway parking spots should get electrified for this) as more EV owners will contend to juice up their cars wherever they park for food or break.

Purely for this reason alone I am skeptical about EV for highways but my next office car will 100% be EV

Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.