Where Are Electric Vehicles Headed?

 

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2019 was the year that the sale of battery-electric as well as plug-in-battery cars first crossed the two million mark according to a report by Deloitte. This very significant milestone of the automotive industry  lost its sheen, however on account of the Covid-19 pandemic. Even so, it is estimated that electric vehicles will comprise 10% of the total automotive market value by 2024. 

Falling Electric Vehicle Prices to Be on Par With Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles in 2024

Among the important trends that are likely to emerge with regard to the demand for electrical vehicles are their falling prices in keeping with an accompanying drop in battery prices. This is borne out by the fact that the average price of an EV battery pack fell from $1,160 per kWh in 2010 to $176 per kWh in 2018. Going ahead this could fall to about $94 per kWh in 2024 and $62 per kWh by 2030 according to BloombergNEF. Furthermore they estimate that there will be price parity between electric vehicles and internal combustion engine vehicles as early as 2024.

Electrification of Vehicles to Extend to Heavy Vehicles 

Right up to 2019 most of the electric vehicles moving on the roads of the world comprised cars and two wheelers. A year earlier the total number of electric cars in the world stood at more than 5 million, while the number of two wheelers was 260 million. In comparison there were only 460,000 electric buses and 250,000 light commercial vehicles worldwide. These numbers are expected to increase substantially going forward, thanks to cheaper and more efficient batteries as well as the more stringent emission norms being put in place worldwide. BloombergNEF further estimates that electric busses will comprise just a little less than 70% of the total number of busses in the world by 2040.

Zero Emission Policy

Countries around the world are pushing for a transition to electric vehicles by moving away from cash purchase incentives to mandatory zero emission mandates or other regulations covering fuel efficiency, pollution and GHG (Greenhouse Gas Emissions).

Better Access to Public Charging

Increased access to efficient public charging is going to drive the move to electric vehicles to a very large extent. Things like super fast chargers, wireless charging, as well as battery swapping are going to cause a paradigm shift in the way the whole battery charging business is viewed. They will increasingly be viewed no more inconvenient than the time it takes to fuel up an internal combustion engine vehicle.

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IPL 2020- Annual Marketing Extravaganza Nonpareil To Put Some Cheer Back into The Economy

 

 

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The year 2020 is proving to be worse than the worst annus horribilis, one could imagine. With the Covid-19 pandemic raging unchecked, the economy has decelerated massively and people have more or less stopped spending money on anything other than the bare necessities. That is bad news for the economy, as the people need to spend a fair amount on goods and services to get the engines of the economy to rev up and gather speed. 

Can the three-week-long IPL 2020 which kicks off in Dubai on September 19th, enthuse the audience to shed their reticence and go ahead and splurge on all kinds of consumer goods and services? For as much as the IPL is an annual sports and entertainment extravaganza, it is also the definitive annual advertising and marketing event. Certainly, the advertising industry can look at much-enhanced revenue on account of a months' long pent-up demand due to the long lock-down and the continuing restrictions afterwards. Besides, the IPL is happening around what is the peak festival season, when consumer spending is traditionally at its highest.

With most people staying largely indoors on account of the new work-at-home normal, the television ( and other streaming gadgets) audience for the matches being played in the tournament is expected to be considerably higher than usual this year. For brands, most of whom have as good as lost two quarters of the year, on account of the pandemic, the IPL coinciding with the festival season gives them a huge opportunity to work towards regaining their market share.

On the other hand industries like food essentials, healthcare, education and insurance that fared quite well during the months of pandemic induced inactivity would also like to leverage the huge reach of the IPL amongst a captive audience. That apart, there will be whole new categories of advertisers, who have emerged thanks to the times that we live in comprising of ed-tech companies, hygiene products like hand washes and hand sanitizers, as well as dishwashers.

Also a lot of the advertisers this year will be indigenous startups who have made it big in the recent past and established themselves as brands to reckon with that are more in tune with the demands of the contemporary world. They would be able to more than makeup for those legacy brands who might no longer have the wherewithal to be a part of the IPL extravaganza this year. Sponsors and advertisers like Dream11, Unacademy and Cred, who are part of this brave new world of tech entrepreneurs are the front-runners in this year's IPL giving everyone a foretaste of things to come.

That is not to say that the legacy players are going to miss the bus, in so far as capitalizing on the advertising and marketing opportunity presented by IPL 2020. Telecom major Vodafone Idea who re-branded themselves as VI recently, thought that the IPL was the best platform to announce the fact to the world. They did this by becoming the co-presenting sponsor of IPL 2020. Clearly, the fun is just beginning. Let's hope that by the time this edition of the IPL ends on November 9th the mojo will be back in the Indian consumer markets. 

Are Electric Cars Really Good For The Environment?

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 Electric cars, which are more and more visible are often touted as the definitive solution to curbing pollution in the towns and cities of the world. But are electric cars really as gentle on the environment as they are made out to be? After all, as many would tell you, the electricity used to charge electric car batteries may not have come from a clean source at all!

As is usually the case, there is merit in both the arguments in favor of electric cars and those against them. Let's take a look at both the sides-

The Battery is the Problem!

Surprisingly, it's the battery, which is really the heart of an electric automobile that is a source of environmental pollution. That is on account of the fact that there are a number of rare earth metals that make up a car battery whose extraction as well as handling can lead to carbon emissions. However, there is evidence that by using the right kind of technology, one can cause considerably less environmental pollution in the manufacturing of electric automobile batteries. American and European manufacturing techniques for instance are known to cause as much as 60% less environmental pollution than Chinese ones.

In any case the pollution caused by the manufacturing of car batteries is the same or at worst just a little higher than that caused in the manufacturing of petrol or diesel engines for automobiles. 

It's the Lifetime Difference in Emissions that Makes the Difference

When it comes to emission during the lifetime of an automobile, an electrically powered one with its zero tail emissions is a clear winner over one that uses an internal combustion engine. That does seem to tip the scales in favor of electric cars, but there are other factors to consider before one arrives at a definitive answer about whether replacing fossil fuel-powered cars with electric ones will prove to be better for the environment or not. 

Judging by the way that governments around the world are actively promoting electric cars at the expense of the conventional internal combustion engine-based ones, it does seem that there is some kind of consensus about the former's environment-friendly credentials.  In fact, the International Energy Agency reckons that there will be more than 300 million electric vehicles worldwide at the end of 2040. 

At the same time, it has to be understood that the electricity used to charge the batteries of these large numbers of electric vehicles will have to be generated with the help of clean non-fossil fuel for there to be any real environmental gains. All the same, it is important to note that the process of creating electric cars is quite polluting in itself and needs to be improved as we go along. It is expected that increasingly efficient technologies will make it possible to substantially reduce the pollution caused by the manufacturing of electric car batteries. Advances in technology that enables efficient reusing and recycling of batteries will also contribute towards reducing the overall pollution caused by the manufacturing of car batteries.

All things being considered, even after taking into account the negative environmental fallout of generating the electricity required to power electric cars, they create considerably less carbon emission than petrol or diesel-run cars do. According to research carried out by the European Energy Agency , this difference in the level of carbon emission is as high as 17 to 30%.

To the question, whether electric cars are really good for the environment, the answer is a qualified yes. With the expected advances in technology leading to more and more reduction in the carbon footprint of electric cars, the chorus of support in their mass adoption is only expected to grow.