Cobalt prices are down by ~50% in 2019 and down by 70% from its peak in early 2018. All this decline while the EV sales recorded huge growth in the same period and tens of new mega battery plants are being built across the world.
Fund manager invested in BMW would love to undermine the growth of EVs. If developing competitive EVs is so easy for the likes of BMW, why are they not able to do it already? Their EV models are still 2-3 years away as per the company’s own road map.
Even with 50%-70% drop battery cost is not below $100 kwh. Demand will not reach mass markets until battery cost comes in $70-100 kwh range. This will happen around 2022-23. All Auto makers will make the move…Tesla, BMW will be in high and mid tier and then you have chinese, Indian, japanese ev filling mid to lower tier.
How practical is the EV today ?
Hyundai, India’s second-largest passenger car maker launched the country’s first battery-powered electric SUV called Kona. The Kona is also one of only three electric passenger vehicles one can buy in India, with the other two being Tata Tigor and Mahindra eVerito.
But, the Kona does not come cheap. At Rs 25.3 lakh (ex-showroom), the Kona is the most expensive of the three. However, the high sticker price has not come in the way of buyers. In the first ten days of opening of bookings, the Kona clocked 120 confirmed orders.
But, let us compare the Kona with a life-size rival that runs on fossil fuel instead. One of Hyundai’s highest-selling models and, certainly, India’s best-selling mid-size SUV Creta has dimensions which are pretty similar to the Kona in terms of interior space and overall length.
Creta’s entry variant is priced at Rs 9.99 lakh (ex-showroom) or less than half of the Kona. This variant comes powered by a 1.6 litre, 4 cylinder petrol engine that generates maximum power of 123ps.
These power figures of the petrol Creta can help it achieve a top-speed of 195 km/hr. In comparison, the Kona can clock 120 km/hr at best.
At a mileage of 15 km/litre of petrol the Creta can run for 825 km without asking for a refill, thanks to its 55-litre fuel tank. This is nearly twice when compared to the Kona whose maximum run on a full charge is 452 km. The Kona can achieve that provided the car is run for a maximum speed of 50 km/hr, as per standard test results.
The Creta can store several litres of fuel in seconds, but the Kona takes at least an hour to get fully charged through a fast charger and 19 hours on a slow three-point house charger.
So with the scales heavily in favour of the Creta, does that make Kona an impractical choice? Let’s do a cost of ownership calculation. The Kona will consume 40 units of electricity for the full charge. At Rs 6 per unit, the Kona will cost Rs 240 to run for 452 km (under standard test conditions).
At Rs 0.50 per km, the Kona is extremely economical. In comparison, the Creta petrol can cost Rs 5.2 per km. However, the premium of Rs 15.3 lakh over the Creta will take several years for Kona to become a practical alternative to the Creta.
Source : Moneycontrol News
The premium of INR 15 lakhs will give an yield of 15,000/- p.m. at 12%.
This will give 200lts of petrol @75/- per liter and the principle amount is not locked up.
However engine maintenance charges will reduce drastically due to lower moving parts.
Also the motor will operate at less temp as compared to ICE.
The EV operating cost will be less than road toll rates.
If the battery costs fall EVs are best alternative.
There are so many silly mistakes in this comparison between Creta and Kona EV by Money Control.
Why are they comparing ex-showroom price of cheapest petrol variant to Kona? Kona is fully feature packed (similar to SX(O) Executive variant of Creta) and comes with Automatic transmission and much more efficient than 1.6 diesel variant. So Kona should be compared to Creta 1.6 diesel + SX(O) Executive variant + Automatic transmission. Hyundai only sells diesel variant SX(O) but only in manual transmission. Its priced at Rs 15.64 lakhs. Automatic transmission variant of Creta priced Rs 1.6 lakhs more than manual variant with same features. If Hyundai were to release Creta diesel SX(O) automatic then it would cost Rs ~17.2 lakhs. With GST cut to 5% from 12% yesterday, Kona price will be down by ~Rs 1.75 lakhs. So the price will be around Rs 23.5 lakhs after GST cut to 5% from 12%. Also, many states exempting road tax on EVs including the likes of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana, UP, Andhra Pradesh, etc… On petrol/diesel vehicles its varies from 10% to 17% in different states. So the final price difference between Creta diesel automatic and Kona EV will be just Rs 3-4 lakhs unlike 15lakhs mentioned by Money Control. Price difference between electricity and diesel costs can make up for the initial extra cost of Kona EV in quick time.
Regarding performance, Kona top speed is 155 kmph not 120 kmph as mentioned. FYI, legal speed limit on our expressways itself is 120 kmph well below the top speed of Kona’s 155 kmph. Max power is 136ps compared to 123ps of petrol and 128ps diesel Creta. Torque is 40.27kgm for Kona which is much higher than diesel creta (26.5 kgm) and petrol creta (15.4kgm). Acceleration also better than Creta and instant acceleration of EVs will be much more fun than petrol/diesel vehicles inherent lag.
Coming to charging infrastructure, majority of charging will be done at home at night without need to spend any time filling at petrol bunks. Public charging is definitely lacking in the country and it will take some time (2-3 years). Govt invited tenders for 1000 charging stations with 6000 chargers across the country and provides the subsidies for winners. Private players like Megenta power are setting up 500 charging points by next year. Good thing about creation of charging infra is its much faster and easier.
Neometals Ltd (ASX: NMT) (“Neometals” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a binding memorandum of understanding (“MOU”) with Indian company Manikaran Power Limited (“Manikaran”) to jointly fund the evaluation of developing the first lithium refinery in India (“Lithium Refinery”). Manikaran is the third-largest power trading and diversified renewable energy company in India.
Manikaran Power Limited (MPL) is a public un-listed, non-government Indian company ranked as India’s Third Largest Power Trading Company. It holds Category 1 inter-state power trading license and is a trading member of Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) and Power Exchange of India (PXIL). Apart from providing a platform for Energy trading in Exchanges, Manikaran also facilitates the transaction of short, medium and long term energy between generators and open access customers through bilateral and captive mechanism. MPL is part of 11 companies under the umbrella of Manikaran Group employing more than 500 persons which is spread across 7 cities in India with a team strength of more than 500 employees catering to Power Trading, Coal Tolling, eV Charging, Analytics, Software Development, EPC and development of Rooftop Solar Projects. Manikaran had engaged Treleaven Capital in order to find a suitable partner for the JV in India.
Exactly opposite headlines today on Government stand on Electric Vehicles.
Business Standard has published an interview with RC Bhargava yesterday . Very informative one .
Good video to understand the difference between petrol car and EV
Not many are aware but the Tesla last year became the highest selling luxury car(including all types of car not just electric) in the USA. There always skeptics when a technology is changing and in this case for good. Also the entrenched players particularly the ones who do not have the necessary technology are the ones most worried.
In my humble opinion, India has far more to gain from a shift to renewable than other richer more developed countries. The US or countries in the European Union can afford the cost of importing fuel; we cannot. It makes a lot of sense for us to jump into the renewable bandwagon and actually develop indigenous technology that can help us reduce our dependency on oil.
I came across this contrarian answer in Quora in which the author has quoted several reasons why the EV rush may be overhyped, sharing the link.
It might not be viable to obtain precious metals to fulfil the demand projected for 2040 and can drive prices up. Eventually ICE and EV might co-exist for longer.
The author bases his entire thesis on the low availability of certain rare earths based on current battery technology. Remember that technology itself will significantly change in the next 30 years and batteries and indeed the whole technology will barely be recognizable from where we are today. It is less of a what battery type question and more of a direction that the world is moving towards.
In the new world everyone is scrambling to move away from fossil fuels and for good reason. The current way is not sustainable and we are at a tipping point where certain changes might be forced on us. I will personally be very dissapointed if we have ICE cars running around in 2040 in any significant proportion.
A few statistics on worldwide growth
“There is no deadline as of now. The shift towards electric vehicle will happen in natural progression," Gadkari said. However, the government will continue to promote cleaner, sustainable and alternative fuel, he said.
Currently, there is no specific policy for electric vehicles. NITI Aayog is spearheading a roadmap towards the transition, in consultation with the ministry of road transport and highways, ministry of power, Bureau of Energy Efficiency and department of heavy industries as they will be responsible for implementing the concerned guidelines or regulations.
Another government official, on the condition of anonymity, told Mint that the Centre will give adequate time to automobile companies and will not impose any deadline without stakeholder consultation. The government will continue to encourage adoption of electric vehicles, but the given the state of the automobile industry, it will not enforce any deadline, said the official.
