Electric vehicles and the Energy Transition

Currently, to face warming and climate change, the use all technologies that reduce the effects of greenhouses is mandatory. Moreover, the energy transition issue does not concern only Eectricity Generation Sector, but the contribution of other sectors of activities is essential to accelerate Energy Transition.

The transport sector either private or public is among the key sectors and it is the main culprit of Global Warming. However, according [2] the transport sector's Co2 emission, it reached eight billion metric tons in 2018, which represents 12% of the global Co2 emission. These rates are important and explain the impact of transport sector on climate change.

APimages/European Union-EP  

Car manufacturers have responded to reduce Co2 emissions by developing new kind of engines less polluting, despite this, the emissions do not drop for several raisons:

• In some countries, the age of the Cars varies between 20 to 30 years or more.
• The development budget for less polluting engines is limited by the price of the global Car,
• Many consumers prefer comfort in cars over other factors such as emission reduction, safety.
• The availability of fuel and low cost is one of the factors that could prolong the existence of fuel cars.

Otherwise, Rail transport such as trains and TGV is better developed than Road transport such as cars, buses .... Etc. Electric trains are in service for a long time over a century which allows this sector to progress either in terms of efficiency or speed, high Speed TGV at is the result of several years of experience in this sector.

Since the discovery of the first electric car in 1899, automotive specialists have considered EVs as an alternative solution for combustion cars, but their industry is slowed down because of the success of combustion cars. After the oil crisis of 1973, specialists returned to electric models and since this period research and development began in order to develop a model able of competing with the combustion model. Unfortunately, the development stage took a long time until the release of the 100% electric models and these types are leading to progress in terms of speed and autonomy.

Nowadays, all conditions are favorable for EV takeoff such as climatic requirements, government support and investment. however, they still miss consumer confidence in order to abandon combustion engine cars and to end domination of combustion engine cars which lasted more than a century.

For the development of large-scale EV sector, several points need to be improved in order to increase global sales of EV.

• In fact, as long as charging stations powered by Electrical Grid, EV subsidiary slows down global energy transition. However, if charging stations are autonomous and powered by renewable energy sources, at that time, EV will become an effective actor in energy transition.
• Development of electric cars is based on an important component which is Electric batteries, these last requires more development to achieve the performance of combustion engine cars in terme of capacity, autonomy and charging time.
• To make costs more competitive, two actions must be taken: large-scale investments and opening new markets in different areas. To achieve these goals, the construction of the infrastructure necessary for the maintenance and operation of the electric cars is compulsory.

It should also be added that there are other points but they are less important than the previous ones. in addition, Car industry is facing other challenges and trends, as follows:

• Realization of autonomous cars running on 100% Renewable Energy is among the concerns of specialists of sector. if these cars are evolved enough, these new kind may radically change electric car industry.
• Hydrogen cars is another kind of electric, powered by hydrogen instead of Diesel and fuel Oil. The great advantage of this type is that H2 industry is mature and in service for a long time. Hydrogen cars is based on fuel cells which are used in various other fields such as power generation, space ... Etc. However, H2 cars present a risk of explosion in case of H2 leaks, these incidents can occur either in the charging stations or in the cars themselves even if the necessary measures are not taken.

And finaly, Electric cars are becoming a primary requirement in Road Transport not only to reduce Greenhouse Emissions but also to relaunch the Energy Transition.

Référence :

[1] Global EV Outlook 2021, Accelerating ambitions despite the pandemic.

[2] Global transport CO2 emissions breakdown, Statista