By Henning Peitsmeier, July 22, 2008
An idea is electrifying car users: mobility out of a socket. In times of high gasoline prices many car drivers, including commuters and low-income earners, are dreaming of an alternative to the gas-guzzling conventional combustion engine. Who would hold it against them? Since the price of a liter of gasoline has soared to levels above €1.50, calls for plug-in electrical cars have resounded throughout the land. In theory, they not only save the owner money but also the environment – at least if the electricity is generated by wind, sun or nuclear power plants.
Although car manufacturers only have about a dozen models of battery-powered vehicles on the street (with 100 electrical Smarts scooting through London) that isn’t preventing politicians from announcing the end of the gasoline era.
In addition, some managers from the automotive industry (hoping to improve their green image profile) have declared the electrical cars to be the ultimate solution to prevent the climate change. This would change the automotive industry more than any technology before, keeping in mind that car makers haven’t fundamentally tampered with the Otto & Diesel engines for more than a century.
Bizzare Race
In fact, car manufacturers currently compete in a bizzare neck-on-neck race to see who will deliver the first electric vehicle with a range of more than 100 kilometers. Curiously, crisis-struck General Motors, ostracized for their extremely fuel inefficient vehicles, is spearheading in the electrical revolution. CEO Rick Wagoner wants to bring the Chevrolet Volt to the market as soon as 2010, an electric car that should solve the problem of high weight and low mileage. On top of that, the Volt – with a price tag of $30,000 – is affordable for almost everyone.
You will hear these promises from other automotive managers as well. “The future, for sure, will be the zero emissions electrical engine fueled via your socket.” said Volkswagen’s CEO Martin Winterkorn recently. And the Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche announced that not only the tiny Smart but also models of the luxury brand Mercedes-Benz will get their first electrical powertrains in 2010.
The keenest plan has not been developed by an automotive manager but by the former SAP board member Shai Agassi. Branding it with the auspicious title “Project Better Place,” Agassi intends to set up a mass-market compliant infrastructure for electrical vehicles. A network of “battery fuel stations” should enable drivers in Israel to exchange their flat battery with a charged one. By doing so, long charging times could be avoided.
Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn is so fascinated by that idea that both car brands are now developing electrical vehicles for Agassi. Project Better Place is also praised to the sky by utilities companies. As utilities companies could add millions of car drivers to their client base, they could progress in their economization efforts and maybe they could even justify the bedeviled nuclear energy with the human desire to be mobile.
The Batteries are the Problem
These are dreams of the future. In reality the difficulties are not yet overcome. The primary hurdle remains the battery itself. Cost-efficient and powerful Lithium-Ion-Batteries are available in cell phones or laptops. But they do not match the requirements of the car industry. They are too heavy, the durability and power efficiency are limited, and they must not explode in accidents. Therefore in all industrial countries, Lithium-Ion-Technology continues to be heavily researched. None of the big OEMs and suppliers can afford to fall back in this race.
The high cost of development is a good incentive for manufacturers to cooperate. New cross-country and cross-industry alliances are being formed. For example, the German automotive supplier Robert Bosch has established a joint venture on the development, production & marketing of Lithium-Ion-Batteries with Samsung. Bosch’s major competitor, Continental – which is working with several battery producers – is being acquired by the Schaeffler Group, which also could have an impact on how how electric mobility in the future could be.
The euphoria around electrical cars is currently without a doubt very high, but we have to remind ourselves that not long ago, biodiesel from your farmer’s cornfields was hyped as a realistic alternative. Before that, it was cars running on hydrogen that promised independence from fossil energies. Today no one is talking about them any more. Therefore, car drivers should expect that internal combustion engines will still dominate the market for the next twenty years. In the meantime, we wait to be electrified by the electrical cars!
