Will electric vehicles drive India's Economy environment friendly in the Future?
If the source of energy used for powering the vehicles is renewable energy and not fossil fuels like coal and the technological developmental needs be fulfilled for recycling of the batteries, then EVs can be seen as the future of India and helpful in the achievement of the goal of net zero emission. — Dr. S. Lingamurthy & Shivanjali Shukla
The international climate deals with public goods and necessitates the deployment of strategic resources involving the provision of public goods and strategic resources must be made available. Affecting both domestic and global politics and the economy. Responding to climate change means guiding the world civilization towards a low-carbon, environmentally friendly future. As a consequence, achieving long-term well-being will be beneficial to everyone. At COP21, the UNFCCC’s member countries adopted the Paris Agreement, which demonstrated their willingness to cooperate and clearly signalled the need for global action to reduce carbon emissions and their greenhouse consequences. As one of the most significant outcomes of international multilateral progress, the Paris Agreement demonstrated member countries’ willingness to collaborate and clearly signalled that global cooperation in the fight against climate change has entered a new phase.
One of the major air pollutants is toxic emissions from internal combustion enginesPollutants and greenhouse gases of various sorts are generated as emissions from automobiles and are the causes of smog and air pollution. Particulate Matter (PMx), carbon mono-oxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), NOx, the volatile organic compound (VOC), SOx, hydrocarbons, and other pollutants and greenhouse gases are examples of pollutants and greenhouse gases (Africa, 2009). Particulate matter refers to particles that are released during the combustion cycle. These particles are so tiny (in the micrometer range) that they penetrate the bloodstream and harm the heart, lungs, and brain.These particulate materials are carcinogenic in nature and are one of the leading causes of cancer caused by air pollution, with diesel engines emitting more PMx than gasoline engines. CO, CO2, CH4, and other greenhouse gases are examples.
Infrared radiations are trapped in the atmosphere as a result of the existence of these gases, causing global warming and climate change. These gases are mostly emitted by IC engine automobiles. NOx gases, volatile organic compounds, and total hydrocarbons are responsible for the formation of the ground-level ozone layer, which is very dangerous for humans because it can form linings in the lungs and cause major respiratory illnesses such as asthma and lung inflammation. NOx gases can be filtered using catalytic filters. However, catalytic converters are highly expensive.
In this particular juncture, electric vehicles (EVs) appear to be the favored solution for addressing environmental issues and mitigating the effects of fossil fuel emissions and are seen as a clean technology option due to benefits such as decreased air pollution in the short to medium term, lower CO2 emissions, high efficiency, and so on. Electric motors move electric vehicles, and a rechargeable battery or other portable energy storage device is utilized to maintain the power supply. There are three types of electric cars: hybrid electric vehicles (HEV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), and battery electric vehicles (BEV). HEVs are powered by fuel & electricity and have an engine and an electric motor, PHEVs have a tiny engine and bigger batteries, while BEVs have no engine and utilize an electric motor for propulsion with batteries as the energy storage technology.
EVs are important facilitators of cleaner energy, Government of India has begun to accelerate the adoption of hybrid and electric cars under the Paris Agreement’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). The seeds of EV adoption were sowed in 2010, when the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy extended a portion of its subsidy to EVs, followed by the National Electric Mobility Mission (NEMMP2020) in 2013 with 200 billion investments to deploy 6.7 million EVs in India. To accelerate the targets of NEMMP 2020, the government announced the FAME-I program in 2015, with 8,950 million anticipated outlays mostly through subsidies, followed by FAME-II, with 100 billion investments expected over 2020-22. The Indian government has declared that all automobiles must be electrified by 2030. The Society of India Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM, 2017) followed up with a white paper claiming that EVs will account for 40% of new car sales by 2030 and 100% by 2047. This historic occasion coincides with the country’s 100th anniversary of independence.
For the years 2014-15, India’s reliance on oil imports has grown significantly, from 78.3% in FY15 to 80.6 percent in FY16 to 81.7 percent in FY 17 to 82.9 percent in FY18 to 83.8 percent in FY19, according to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MPNG). The International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook 2019 reveals that India’s oil consumption in total primary energy is growing. Additionally, this means that India’s oil consumption may rise at a pace that is more than twice as fast as China’s during the next five years, increasing the country’s current account deficit.
Bharat is looking forward to Electric vehicles as a clean alternative over the ICEVs due to the reason that 14 out of 20 most polluted world cities are in India, 36% of NOx emissions are due to vehicles, 20% of PM 2.5 emissions in Delhi were due to the vehicles and petrol and diesel vehicle is the main source of this kind of air pollution. The other thing is what petrol and diesel vehicle do, it requires petrol and diesel, for that we as a country are dependent on import, which continues to push up our purchases and therefore a foreign exchange outgo, and this has become one of the prime reasons for Bharat’s rupee to be weak in comparison to other developed countries. EVs are four times as energy efficient as Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles (ICEVs) and also have 50% fewer moving parts. So, we want to and are moving towards higher efficiency.
EV adoption has started, but people are still relying on fossil-fuel-powered vehicles. However, EVs have challenges in the areas of life cycle assessment (LCA), charging, and driving range as compared to conventional, fossil-fuelled vehicles. Electric car production produces 59% more CO2 than an ICEV. The ICEV emits 120 g/km of CO2 from the tank to the wheel, however it increases to 170-180 g/km from the position of LCA. There are no CO2 emissions from tank to wheel with electric cars, yet we estimate that a vehicle’s life cycle CO2 is measured rather than its total CO2 emissions. Accordingly, on the kind of power source utilized and where the automobile is manufactured and driven, the total CO2 emissions from a car might vary substantially.
Coal is a solid fossil fuel that is used to heat dwellings and produce power. Because coal is solid, it cannot be recovered like crude oil or natural gas; it must be dug out from the ground. Bituminous coal, sub-bituminous coal, or lignite are consumed in coal-fired power plants. The heat created by coal combustion is exploited to transform water into high-pressure steam, which spins a turbine and creates electricity. By 2020, two-thirds of coal burned will be utilized to create electricity. In 2020, coal accounted for 34 percent of total energy production. China was responsible for more than half of coal generation in 2020. Coal contributes to nearly 60 percent of electricity produced in China, India, and Indonesia.
The batteries used in the Battery electric vehicle are lithium-ion batteries which have a life cycle of 10-12 years and will face the problem of dumping, they could be recycled to some extent but a lot of technological development is required to do that. The lithium used in the batteries if they come in direct contact with humans can cause many health issues and is dangerous for the human species. The life of solar panels and their dumping is also a big concern in the process of acceleration of electric vehicles in India.
If the source of energy used for powering the vehicles is renewable energy and not fossil fuels like coal and the technological developmental needs be fulfilled for recycling of the batteries, then EVs can be seen as the future of India and helpful in the achievement of the goal of net zero emission.
Dr. S. Lingamurthy, Assistant Professor of Economics, Central University of Karnataka.
Ms. Shivanjali Shukla, Doctoral Research Scholar in Economics, Central University of Karnataka.
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