02 Aug 2022 | IN-6626
With Europe aiming to be the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050, the European Union (EU) Parliament recently voted to make the sales of new Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles illegal by 2035.
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Market Disrupting Announcements Drive the Automotive Future |
NEWS |
News headlines are a daily influence in modern life, but few of them are changing the world as we know it, such as the recent Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) ban from the European Union (EU). With Europe aiming to be the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050, the EU Parliament recently voted to make the sales of new ICE vehicles illegal by 2035. This timetable is set to support a 55% reduction in carbon emissions from automobiles compared with emissions in 2021, up from a 37.5% Carbon Dioxide (CO2) reduction initially required last year. In response, automakers have insisted that a rapid transition to Electric Vehicles (EVs) can only be made possible with massive investments in charging infrastructure, as even customers who can afford an electric price premium have cited “range anxiety” (a driver’s concern that a vehicle has insufficient fuel or energy capacity to reach a destination) due to the lack of public charging stations as a challenge with converting to electric. Thus, to boost EV sales and mitigate range concerns, the EU has proposed legislation to install public charging points no more than 60 kilometers apart on major roads by 2025.
The Electric Vehicle Bandwagon Is Growing Globally |
IMPACT |
While the EU’s announcement of a 100% ICE vehicle ban is not the first of its kind, it is perhaps the first of its scale, leveraging the 27-nation bloc to accelerate the way that transportation is designed, fueled, and facilitated through infrastructure. According to the World Economic Forum, the EU joins over 40 countries and other regional and local governments that have signed legislation to accelerate the transition to EVs.
Automotive manufacturers have been observing these market developments for years, while continually adapting and updating their own electric transitions. Several companies already have plans to make the switch to EVs before the EU deadline.
Despite Momentum, the Electric Vehicle Transition May Have Challenges Ahead |
RECOMMENDATIONS |
Governments around the world are driving a ground-breaking shift away from vehicles powered by fossil fuels to EVs, citing urban air pollution, human health, national security, and climate change as reasons for the switch. There are significant opportunities to reduce regional and global carbon emissions with these decisions. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the transportation sector contributed to 27% of the 2020 greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, and a traditional gas-powered passenger vehicle with a 22-miles-per-gallon range emits an average of 4.6 metric tons of CO2 per year. With 284 million U.S. vehicles on the road in 2022, an EV transition could considerably reduce the United States’ total carbon emissions. In addition to reducing carbon, owners of EVs also report many other positives, such as lower ongoing costs (especially when gas prices are soaring), lower maintenance costs, immediate torque and acceleration response, a quiet engine, tax incentives, and the convenience of charging the vehicle at home.
There are also challenges to the widespread adoption of EVs, and these obstacles will need to be met and addressed to achieve stated EV targets. Broader regional and national level challenges include insufficient EV charging infrastructure, a finite amount of critical minerals and metals available for use in manufacturing, high-carbon electricity grids (in many locations), risk of grid overloads, EV profitability, and inconsistent tax credits and incentives for EVs. Several of the consumer attitude challenges with EVs include: a high entry cost, limited driving range, access to consistent and reliable charging, time required to charge, and battery packs that can be expensive to replace.
Advancements in technology can help mitigate many of these issues, starting with improvements in battery storage, battery system costs, and EV range. Smart, adaptive charging technologies can allow unused power from car batteries to provide extra supply to the grid during peak demand, while conversely charging an idle vehicle during off-peak hours. Smart energy management systems can use Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven technologies to integrate local renewable energy sources (e.g., solar or wind installations) with demand sources (e.g., EV charging, Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems, and lighting), optimizing multiple assets connected to the grid, while ensuring a steady energy supply. Moreover, circularity systems and battery recycling companies will need to further develop end-of-life plans for EV batteries. Redwood Materials Inc. is a U.S. company founded by JB Straubel, the former co-founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Tesla, which recycles, refines, and remanufactures lithium-ion batteries into battery materials to be returned to the supply chain, without the need for additional mining of minerals and rare earth metals. Redwood’s technology recovers more than 95% of materials, including nickel, cobalt, lithium, copper, aluminum, and graphite from a lithium-ion battery. Finally, further educating the public and frontline auto sales teams about the benefits of EVs will be valuable, and providing consistent incentives and tax credits will help make the effective cost of owning EVs more affordable for all, while substantially reducing global carbon emissions.