Sunday, November 3, 2019

Decarbonising Electricity Grids for Electric Vehicles
 
A technological revolution is gaining strength globally. It is the revolution to dethrone fossil fuels (carbon-based fuels) from their undisputed rule that has lasted for over 150 years. Today, transportation is undergoing a radical transformation. A new mobility option has arrived on the scene – electric vehicles, or EVs. This phenomenon is creating a wave of innovation and new enthusiasm in an old industry which is now gearing up to move towards a clean energy paradigm.
Historically, the automobile sector has been almost entirely energised by automotive fossil fuels (petrol, diesel and gas), but these polluting fuels are harmful to human health as well as the environment. And yet, there are many economic arguments from the fossil fuel industry to support the benefits which petroleum has brought to the humanity over all these years. Whereas, the fact remains that there are serious downsides to this equation. So, the world is now moving away from these unclean fuels and shifting towards environment-friendly solutions. Let us look at the pros and cons.
For all these years, internal combustion engines (ICE), which burn petroleum-derived auto fuels to run vehicles, have ruled the road transportation scene globally. The non-stop growth of automobile sector has made the dream of mechanised transportation and personal mobility a big reality spanning the entire globe. Also, the vast urban development all across the world has been made possible largely by the ubiquitous availability of private and public road transportation fueled by the energy of fossil fuels. Also, whenever an automobile plant is set up in a region, it generates a lot of economic activity across the entire value chain. However, the same could also be argued for electric mobility, which has the potential to generate its own vast ecosystem across the globe in the coming years, boosting national as well as global economy in a green and sustainable way.
With such multitudes of benefits, automotive fossil fuels have enjoyed an unstoppable run. However, for the global scientific community, vehicular greenhouse gas emissions are a huge concern – mainly carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
Now the world is quickly realising the damage caused by fossil fuel vehicles, and has begun moving towards cleaner, environment-friendly forms of transportation. Thus, we have vehicles that run on alternative fuels like bioethanol, ethanol-blended petrol, biodiesel, compressed natural gas (CNG), hydrogen-blended CNG (HCNG), as well as battery-driven vehicles powered by electricity and other emerging options like hybrid cars employing battery with fuel backup. The sector is witnessing brisk activity. Indeed, almost every month, the world’s top car companies come up with several announcements about some new technological developments taking place in the dynamic field of environment-friendly transportation.
The government is firmly committed to sustainable energy and support for the growth of environment-friendly transportation. Indeed, there have been several policy moves unleashed by the government to significantly reduce carbon emissions. Moving forward, the policy vision is towards facilitating mass EV adoption in the next decade and beyond.
NITI Aayog is presently considering a proposal to mandate all new two-wheelers and three-wheelers to be electric by 2025 and 2023, respectively.
To provide a boost to EV migration, the latest Union budget has announced a reduction in the GST rate on electric vehicles from 12 per cent to 5 per cent. Also, the GST rate on charger/charging stations for electric vehicles has been reduced from 18 per cent to 5 per cent. The budget has further announced income tax rebates of up to ₹1.5 lakh to customers on interest paid on loans to buy electric vehicles, with a total exemption benefit of ₹2.5 lakh over the entire loan period. Also announced in the budget is customs duty exemption to bring down the cost of imported lithium–ion cells, which are used in lithium-ion batteries that are the heart of an electric vehicle. The government has also announced an outlay of ₹10,000 crore for Phase 2 of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME 2). The scheme is expected to support more than 150,000 EVs in the next three years.
So, now comes the moot question about EVs: “How green are EVs actually?”
The answer might surprise you. EVs do not necessarily mean zero emissions. They have zero emissions on the road, so today’s cities clogged with traffic do certainly benefit. However, whether the environment as a whole benefits from the EV revolution actually depends on where the electricity to run EVs comes from. EVs are charged from electricity grids, which presently derive a large portion of electricity from coal-burning (thermal) power plants. So, the emissions do not go away entirely, but are only shifted from the point of use to the power plant. In other words, instead of petrol and diesel, it is coal that provides a significant amount of energy that runs EVs. Thus, an EV is clean and green only if it is powered by clean, environment-friendly electricity derived from “non-fossil” sources. This requires decarbonizing the grid rapidly, so that the society at a local scale, and the planet at the global scale can both benefit simultaneously, avoiding emissions that cause global warming. The government aims to have 40 per cent non-fossil fuel generated electricity by the year 2030. Recent projections suggest that it is also possible for clean energy to constitute over half of India's capacity addition in power generation by 2030. In this endeavour, nuclear power stands shoulder to shoulder with other clean energy options such as solar, wind, biofuels, etc. Nuclear power plants do not involve any greenhouse gas emissions during power generation, making them a robust source of planet-friendly, emissions-free electricity. Today, nuclear power provides about one-third of all “clean” electricity generated globally, thus avoiding significant amounts of greenhouse gas emissions year after year. As a strategy towards fulfilling the clean energy vision for the nation, the government has chalked out a plan to further expand nuclear power generation in the country rapidly in the coming years. This augurs well not only for EVs, but also for the well-being of the planet.
In summary, if we want a clean future for electric vehicles, we must also produce enough clean, emissions-free electricity, without which the emerging EV revolution would remain an incomplete attempt.