This is a difficult subject for BlackTopMedia.
We have, up until now, always ignored EV’s (Electric Vehicles) and classed them as the devils work.
We have generally considered them a marketing exercise and not remotely green once you factor in whole life costs and not just tailpipe emissions.
With the continued growth and development of the EV sector, we thought we couldn’t put this off any more and had to go and take a peek, find out what all the fuss was about.
One of our issues has always been batteries. Horrible to make, can’t be recycled when the short vehicle life is over. How green is that? Not very.
The reality is nothing like that. Battery ‘ownership’ has many solutions. Rental, leasing, lifetime warranties, whatever. That means that EV ownership now doesn’t have to be a short and painfully expensive ordeal. When the battery starts to loose efficiency and hold less charge, it’s changed at no additional cost.
Ok, but they are finished with and can’t be recycled. That’s terrible for the environment…..isn’t it?
No, another one of our anti-EV weapons explodes in our face. Hold that thought though……
So, just for a moment, let’s go off topic slightly and look at renewable energy. One of the main issues with renewable energy such as wind and solar is storing the energy. It’s produced largely during the day when we are at work and don’t need it, but is gone when we do as we can’t store it.
If only we had a source of batteries we could use to store that energy…….hold on, I see a plan coming together.
The plan is to use old EV batteries as second life in storing renewable energy. These batteries are not ‘done’ when removed from the vehicles, they just don’t charge as well as they used to. Say they used to do 100 miles fully charged, when at the end of their useful vehicle life they do 70. Still plenty of life in the batteries, in fact as much as 10-15 years of second life is estimated if used as renewable energy storage. A much more green solution!
We know many companies are looking at these batteries as an option to reduce energy bills. A great solution.
This is all based on current battery technology too. It is assumed that the next big technology advances will be in battery technology. There is a huge amount of resource being invested in this area so keep an eye out.
Ok, so what about the nasty little cars? I like my cars simple and old school. Well, let’s look at that. Modern internal combustion (IC) cars are far from simple. Crammed with so many electric aides and strangled to meet emissions.
Electric vehicles have been around since the 1830’s! Is that old school enough?
In terms of simplicity, can it get any simpler than forward/backward gears and stop/go pedals?
Admittedly, some manufacturers are making them very complicated but as a simple, fun mode of transport, they are great.
Clearly there are limitations. Charging can be inconvenient, range can be limiting and so on. But there are a growing number of new players in the market, all with innovative solutions to these issues, so watch this space.
Let’s consider the future of conventional cars? We’re currently on Euro6 emissions regulations which are tough, just ask VW.
Euro7 will come in to play at some point. We have worked with some of the fuel system manufacturers who say Euro7 is almost impossible to meet with current diesel technology. Past that, it is a real possibility we won’t be able to produce diesel engines that can meet future emissions regulations, with petrol engines close behind. So then what? What else is there? Hybrids and EV’s that’s what.
BlackTopMedia have dipped their toe in the EV waters recently and have genuinely had our eyes opened. They are not the devils work and actually fit quite well in to BlackTopMedia’s ethos.
We’re looking forward to trying some more and seeing what there is out there. Of course we’ll report back to you with all the juicy details!
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