Go Electric-10

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WHAT'S ON FOR INDIA ?

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The other day --to be precise on 4 October, 2010 -- readers of Kerala's 'Mathrubhumi' daily ( the Trivandrum print edition) were treated to an exclusive interview on page 9.  The writer, Mr K K Subair, had buttonholed none less than Shashank Srivasthava, Chief General Manager, Maruti-Suzuki, the Indian car giant.

(Available on-line at:

http://epaper.mathrubhumi.com/index.php?id=16265&cat=14&date=2010-10-04 )

The two-line headline is a direct quote from one of the top men in India who decides what India will drive tomorrow. A rough translation would read: " India loves fuel economy", "The electric car is a distant dream".  Very succinct, as can be expected from a person of Mr Srivasthava's calibre.

Maruti, as we all know, is the biggest car maker in India with a popular range of cars that meet everyone's needs. Those of us who are slightly long in the tooth would remember the dream small car that carried the name of 'Maruti' and that was the twinkle in the younger entrepreneur son of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Years of 'research and development' later no car was seen in the roads of India, and suddenly one fine morning Suzuki, the Japanese car giant was invited for a tie-up, and finally in 1983 a canny little runabout was announced. I checked the Maruti-Suzuki site and this was the only thing

( http://www.marutisuzuki.com/milestones.aspx ) that was there to refresh my memory.

Another page gives you an insight into the core values (http://www.marutisuzuki.com/vision-and-core-values.aspx ) that drive them.

Their environmental concerns are reflected by their commitment to develop environment-friendly engines, their K-sries being the latest and the best in that regard. No wonder quite a lot of us love and prefer a Maruti.

Good for them. Good for us. Or, is it?

Now let us get back to Mr Srivasthava and the interview. After talking about his company's plans to invest about Rs 1,700 crores additionally to ramp up production,  he touches on that favourite India topic--fuel economy. As an 'insider' who knows the 'pulse' of India, he knows only too well that the average Indian car buyer rates mileage/fuel economy above other things, including even looks and that evasive quality, performance, and he says as much to the interviewer too.

The next question put to him  : 'What is the progress on the electric car project?'

Ans: ' It is only a distant target. It will take a long time for that to happen in India. The experience the world over re. the electric car is not very attractive. Even in America electic cars make up only about 4% of all the cars."

So that is how he sees it. So let us write to him to plead our case!

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AN OPEN LETTER to Shashank Srivasthava, CGM, Maruti-Suzuki, India

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Sir,

We have come to know from the recent interview that you gave to the Mathrubhumi daily of Kerala that Maruti is NOT comtemplating releasing an electric car in the recent future. You have said it is only a DISTANT dream/target.


How distant, Sir? Five years, ten years,  or longer???

You remember how back in 1983 you came out with the small hatchback called the Maruti-800? How long did it take for it to change the Indian auto scene beyond recognition? Not much as we all know. As they say, the rest was history.  Why did it happen? India was one of those countries which enjoyed a ready market for the traditionally 'classy' cars since day one of their introduction. Dont you remember that story about Bhagwan Rajneesh who 'owned' the largest number of Rolls-Royces in the world?

The little Maruti became popular because the only two cars available then in India --the venerable Ambassador and the Fiat; no, the Standard is not forgotten-- were 'behind the times' and the companies that produced these cars were smug and complacent and took the poor Indian customer 'for granted'. Maruti did not simply enter the Indian market; it exploded into a staid market and created waves.


Here was finally a 'dream car' to meet the needs of the average Indian--looks, technology, reliability and fuel efficiency too! So far as I know and remember, it was the first and only car in India (no, I am NOT counting the R-Rs, Benzes, Bugattis or the BMWs) that offered 'driver comforts' such as steering-mounted switches, a good air-conditioner, adjustable seats, good electrical systems, and a nice car stereo too! It was a 'complete' car, and VERY attractive at its original first-release price of, if I remember right, less than half a lakh.

Maruti has remained a top-rung company by listening to the needs of its range of customers. Now for some reasons it is showing signs that it is departing from that model. Sir, will you tell us more about the Maruti-Suzuki electric car project? Share with us the findings of your brilliant research teams. What are the factors that have put 'spanners in the works' so far as the electric car research is concerned? Please do not tell us that the scientists and engineers of top-notch companies like yours are unable to repeat what is being done by do-it-yourselfers the world over, namely, converting and using electric cars? Yes, we know, a one-off attempt is one thing, and manufacturing a successful range of vehicles is another. But surely it cannot be beyond the capabilities of large corporates like yours.

Look at Tesla in the US ( http://www.teslamotors.com/ )

 Renault ( http://www.renault.com/en/capeco2/vehicule-electrique/pages/vehicule-electrique.aspx  )

and now Benz ( http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-31349_7-20018367-282.html ) in Europe

and the Japanese giant Toyota with the Prius -- the Indian response for which has pleasantly surprised even Toyota--

and the Nissan 'Leaf' electric car (http://www.nissanusa.com/leaf-electric-car/index#/leaf-electric-car/specs-features/index ) too!

And what about the EV scene in China ?
( http://feedroom.businessweek.com/?fr_story=a9bb57fe7112274dff061f0683489688197bf0f1)

And in the home-turf now Mahindra is planning EVs is collaboration with Renault and the Indian pioneer Maini-Reva. Surely you must have brilliant researchers not only in your parent company's R&D labs, but in India too. It may not be too much to ask you to share with us the progress --or the lack of it-- that you have made in the field, and the real reasons for that.

Let us point out an inconsistency in your comment regarding the electric car and the American scene. Since when has the American auto scene begun to serve as a model for either Suzuki or your company? The urban small car was not even in the distant viewfinder of the American auto giants when Suzuki in Japan pioneered and made it a success story in Japan and later in India and many other countries. Your predecessors did not say that it was not successful in America and so it was foolish to go after it. Far from it, Sir...

Suzuki, your parent company, saw a definite need for a small urban car to meet the peculiar needs of the crowded Japnese city streets and they planned and researched and designed for that. Don't you admit that spending a minute in any road junction in any city, large or small, in any developing country, will convince you that more than ever, you need to design a small non-polluting small urban car. It is for the researchers to decide on the appropriate technology to realize that target-- hydrogen, compressed air, fuel cells, solar, electric or even nuclear ??!!!

What are you doing about it--NOW? And what is your summing up about that work? We need to know, Sir, and we think we have a right to know. Please dont tell us that today in America there are only less than 4% electric cars. You can easily find out that once they numbered 100 %. And they were 'killed' not because of an inherent flaw in their genes. We do not think for an instant that a person of your calibre is an ignoramus. We see it as your unwillingness, for your own complicated reasons, to be willing to wake up to the realities of the present day and age.

Sir, look at the wall...not only the wall in Facebook, but The Wall ..... the writing is on the wall. If Maruti, with its penchant for innovation and hard-nosed practical wisdom, can lead from the front and come to the market with a simple, practical electric car, in many ways like the little runabout that made Maruti a household name, well, you can work that old magic again, and put smiles on the faces of your customers. If not...??

With an intelligent man like you, Sir, we dont think we have to 'spell it all out' for you.

The choice, Sir, is yours to make!

And we are waiting!

Most sincerely yours,

The Eco-conscious Indian drivers

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more to follow

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Go Electric-9

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WHAT PRICE OIL ?
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Oil is becoming pricier and pricier, and in economies like ours its rocket-like trajectory affects everything from the stock market to the onion and sugar prices. Whatever the economists might say with their 'deeper' understanding, to the Tom, Dick or Harry...oops! I ought to remember that this is not the India of the British Raj days!...  to the Shankaran, Gopanlan and Madhavan in the street, with no degrees or qualification in Economics, the fuel price increases simply, but surely upset the family budget. And as many of us understand family budgets, they are a far cry from the National or the State budgets--they CANNOT work with a budget deficit...NEVER! So the simple math is, if something goes up, something else has to come down to accommodate it. The result, inevitable 'budget cuts' that leave the wife and kids and the maid servant irritable and counter-productive.

For most of us the shooting oil prices are rated according to the additional burden that we face in our family budgets. But have we ever thought of the TCO factor?

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THINK TCO... ALWAYS
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Today management experts and even computer printer salesmen have a way of evangelizing about TCO--Total Cost of Ownership.

If you buy a small puppy for say, 100 rupees and think that you got lucky. Just wait a moment, or maybe, a month or two. Soon the pup tells you with a growl that it is no longer a pup, and it eats well into your wallet. The vet's bills, the other cost of ownership hassles like replacing your neighbour's doormat that your pet chewed through, to buying the postman a new pair trousers for the one that the enterprising canine bit through, not to speak of the irreplaceable piece of skin and flesh on his bottom that got accidentally in between the sharp teeth of the good doggie..etc etc, will soon 'swell' your 100 precious rupees  to well over a thousand in no time and to more than 10,000 in a matter of months.

All that does not include the 'cost' of peace of mind!

This, then, is what is meant by TCO. I think you  got it.

That tells us, we cannot rate the cost of fuel by mere rupees alone that you part with at the fuel pump every other day. Of course, the price you pay at the pump is not the 'real' price of the thing we all know. It is inflated like a balloon by the greed of governments and corporates, and often we see 'studies' that the stuff you get for about Rs 50 is what actually ought to cost only around Rs 18 or 20 at the most. Recently they made it BS-III compliant; another 50 paise more, but then you are up to international par!! Ho, ho, ho..but my friendly neighbourhood pump serves up the kersene-laced, 950 ml concoction that my engine is accustomed to, BS-II or III...

Forgetting all these little facts of life for a moment, let us take a long, cool look at the oil scenario.

Which are the largest ships in the world? Oil tankers!

A huge oil tanker at sea

( China delivers the largest oil tanker   --->
 http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2008-10/28/content_7150135.htm
Also, --->   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_tanker  )

And when an oil tanker runs into problems, today their huge capacities put the entire world and its eco-system into peril. A famous yesteryear event is the Exxon Valdez tragedy in the pristine polar waters of Alaska. The January, 1990, issue of the prestigious National Geographic magazine had a detailed article about the tragedy and its aftermath.
( http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/1990/01/alaska-oil-spill/hodgson-text )

The National Geographic Society is one of the few US institutions that still maintain a laudable level of concern for the world and its geographical treasures and its eco-system. Its magazine is  a voice of sanity in this world of corporate-funded 'experts' who spout all sorts of 'convenient' proclamations. Through its pages we share the knowledge, expertise and concerns of internationally recognized men and women of eminence, and who, we can easily see, have " no axes to grind"!!

I would ask you to read the above link to the Exxon tragedy first and then move on to the most recent such tragedy--the 'Deepwater Horizon' oil well explosion in the Gulf of Mexico near the US coast.
( http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/10/gulf-oil-spill/bourne-text )

'Deepwater Horizon' explosion

It makes chilling reading. The greed and expediency of the huge oil corporates is revealed for us all to see. And the  more shocking thing is how they are able to influence the government too--the government that is supposed to be the 'guardian' of us all, the guardian of our safety, security and good health, and our right to a good, clean environment. We pay through our noses all sorts of taxes to the government for doing that. All I wish to say here is, read yourself and decide for yourself whether you want to be merely shocked, dismayed, or downright indignant or be chilled to the marrow...these are some of the options you might have, just that and nothing else.

Do you remember that little incident near the Mumbai coast a few months back when two small boats ( I humbly reserve the word 'tanker' for those behemoths of the ocean that carry million of barrels of  crude oil), one carrying some oil, collided and spewed a few hundreds of barrels of oil into the sea?

Mumbai- oil on troubled waters

( Search the Web; here are just a couple of links:
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/mumbai-ship-collision-captain-blames-captain-43592
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article562730.ece  )

Ah, our media dont have the time to highlight or examine such things; they are more comfortable examining Sania's romantic preferences or what some nut thinks about Ayodhya ('...where was that, and say, what is all the brouhaha about??...'  LOL...) We all know that oil and water do not mix well and crude oil in the water is not the best of healthy additives for marine life, or for that matter, life anywhere.

Till date the ' Deepwater Horizon' well has spewed approximately 5 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. If you want to think that nature will take care of all that, and perhaps more, easily, well I have nothing to say. The massive amounts of oil and chemical dispersants etc ARE causing long-lasting environmental damage from which recovery is a slow, painful process, according to the scientists. Listen to what oceanographer Ian MacDonald at Florida State University says:  "There is a tremendous amount of highly toxic material in the water column, both at the surface and below, moving around in one of the most productive ocean basins in the world." To me that sounds serious, and it cannot be good.

When decisions are taken in the air-conditioned boardrooms of megacorps, insulated from all reality, where only the bottom line of profit and expediency are serious considerations, such tragedies are the only aftermath.

Not only now, but in the future too.

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THERE..... and HERE ?
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Here I wish to throw up a humble question for your consideration, dear reader.

After the Exxon tagedy, the oil company and the government had pumped in billions of dollars into a cleanup drive, and as the Nat Geo article notes, Nature was now limping back to normalcy after nearly a quarter of a century. Today, no doubt, many more billions will be pumped in to clean up and make good the damage done to the environment. Where the money comes from is another question.  Surely the oil companies will spend a small part of their profits, but it is mostly the taxpayer's money, spent by a goverment eager to protect its citizens. Just take a moment to read this quote from the NatGeo article.
"......In 1990, after the Exxon Valdez spill, Congress's Office of Technology Assessment analyzed spill-response technologies and found them lacking. "Even the best national response system will have inherent practical limitations that will hinder spill-response efforts for catastrophic events—sometimes to a major extent," wrote OTA's director, John H. Gibbons. "For that reason it is important to pay at least equal attention to preventive measures as to response systems … The proverbial ounce of prevention is worth many, many pounds of cure."

The US government is at pains to do its best probably  to contain the tragedy. Why? Because it is right at their doorstep. Will Obama the great humanitarian pump in so much money had the incident happened in international waters? Suppose we poor Indians were in the wake of the Gulfstream ocean current and all the pollution landed up at our beaches and upset our lives and our economy? Will their response be on a similar level. We have not forgotten what happened in Bhopal. As far as I know, Union Carbide and Dow Corning are American corporates.

Remembering Bhopal.....

( Bhopal tragedy: just one link: http://www.thecitizenfsr.org/_sgg/mam9s4_1.htm )

I shall leave the conclusions to you individual readers. I realize I dont have to do the thinking for you people.

But I want you to think, and think clearly....what price oil??

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OIL 'BLOOD MONEY'
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This then is the price that you pay ultimately for oil and our addiction to oil. It is NOT an addiction that we have picked up. It is an addiction that we are forced to stay with as a result of the long-term investment that have been made by oil companies the world over, and by the people who create a never-ending need for oil--the car makers. It is a 'cartel'  that is holding the entire world to ransom.

It is time we listened to the sane words of a concerned scientist like the University of Georgia biogeochemist Mandy Joye, who has spent years studying the deep waters of the Mexican  Gulf:
"The Deepwater Horizon incident is a direct consequence of our global addiction to oil. Incidents like this are inevitable as we drill in deeper and deeper waters. We're playing a very dangerous game here.
If this isn't a call to green power, I don't know what is."

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GREEN POWER
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Green is the colour of our future power. Or at least, it ought to be, if we are to preserve our eco-systems. So let us think of setting ourselves free from this debilitating addiction to oil. Americans burn nearly 20 million barrels of oil a day. Nobody has figured out how much we Indians burns. (Or, has somebody? Please give me the figures please.)  It must surely be an unaffordably huge quantity.

In a country like India with so much of hydro, wind and solar power generation potential, why is the government silent about encouraging the green alternatives? As everywhere, policies are defined by clever corporates who have the politicians at the end of a  few strings.

And believe me, though  puppetry is not an optional subject offered  at the B-schools, most of them are master puppeteers!
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more to follow
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Go Electric-8

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THE FIGURES...

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Figures have a way of clarifying an issue, in fact, any issue. So let us look at typical figures. What sort of figures? Not the 36-24-36, though they hold their own attraction, as anybody will admit; but the figures people have a way  of trotting out to justify their arguments.

Conventional wisdom goes like this.

The electric car cannot be a practical reality and a solution NOW for most of us.

The reasons?

Their limited range of less than 100 km on a single charge. The 'fact' that conventional batteries are not good enough to meet present day requirements, and so we have to wait for the emergence of some 'miracle' battery technology, when we can think of looking into the viability of the electric vehicle or the EV. The hoped-for reduction in the 'carbon footprint' is a myth,  as carbon(dioxide) will anyway be produced by the thermal generating plants producing the grid electricity from which the EV's will be charged.

There are a lot of other sillier points often made by our 'well wishers' in industry and government who want to 'safeguard' our interests above everything else. But let us ignore those minor issues for the moment and address one by one the above--from a purely practical point of view.

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.....AND THE FACTS

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What are the facts of the case?

The 'range' dilemma

You look at yourself and your friends, enemies and relatives and second cousin living in Chennai or Bangalore...sorry, Bengalooru or even Mumbai. I for one asked around/ looked around / sneaked around a bit. What is the 'range' that you have typically? In an average car with a full tank of 'gas', and a mileage varying from 10-- 20 km per litre, your range is an impressive 300 to 400 km.

Good. In fact, GREAT!

But tell me honestly, how much gas you had the last time you used your car or, for that matter, your two-wheeler? It is a fact of life that MOST people drive around with just enough to take you about less than 100 km! What a coincidence!

The confidence about the 'range' comes from the certainty of being able to fill up any time from the omni-present petrol pump. But then for the average city driving for a whole day, range is NOT a problem for most of us--unless of course, you are living in an American suburb from where you have a daily commute of a few hours. In our country, despite casting the net far and wide, I have not been able to 'net' a commuter who drives say, about 200-300 km daily.

FACT: The typical range you need / use is very much less than 100 km a day.

As a kid I remember the preparations for an 'adventure' (nothing more than a couple of hundred miles) by car back in the 1950s. The two things every intrepid driver carried were two large 'jerry cans' of a few gallons capacity each. One for water and the other for fuel; the much-needed fuel that assured you an extension of 'range' in an emergency. As recently as the late 1980s when a few of us undertook a pan-Indian drive in the small, cute Maruti-800, again the 'trunk space' was taken up by two plastic-wrapped 'jerry cans'  of you know what!

FACT: 'Recharging' with gas at the pump takes three minutes; on the roadside with your jerry cans and rubber tube and the 'help and advice' of co-passengers and passers-by, it takes anything from fifteen to thirty minutes! Recharging an EV's batteries will take considerably longer--at least with the current battery and charging technologies.

We will look at this later in detail. But, for the present, it is not an issue as we are staying well within the one-time-charged range of about 100 km.

The battery issue

Now, what about batteries? Lead-acid batteries are the ‘staple’ of the battery department--the kind we see in our cars and trucks, in home inverters and nestled below railway coaches. Of course, they are heavy. So when you look at the energy that it can give per kg of its own weight, well, it may not look very attractive. Currently we have lighter batteries with better capacities and recharging characteristics like the Lithium battery. But their cost per watt is rather on the high side. Then there are other newer and more exotic batteries under development. But let those come in their own sweet time.

Let us not say that the humble lead-acid is not 'good enough'. They are the current workhorses of heavy industry and the railways, not to speak of the many institutions that rely on day-long battery back-up of their computers and other mission-critical equipment. From telephone exchanges to mobile phone towers to the data centres and the humble homes, lead-acids are holding their own, and capably too. Just because the technology is the same as yesteryear's batteries does not mean that today's lead-acids are shy of heavy duty performance or reliability.

A case in point is the batteries used in railway coaches. They run day in, day out, often getting abused when trains get held up for long intervals, when they get discharged to zero without the running dynamos/alternators to charge them; yet they give a better than average performance overall. The situation is much worse in the air-conditioned coaches as there the load is much greater.  Visit the local data centres, banks, large internet cafes, department stores, in fact any mission-critical institution, talk to the techie in charge and ask him about back-up times, reliability etc. Take a look at the batteries too, if they will let you. Ten out of ten, they will be the sturdy old lead-acids. Surprised?!!

An electric forklift truck

Try to visit any 'heavy' factory or industrial centre and you will see that small runabouts 'carrying' things around. They are the forklift trucks--you can recognize them by the 'forks' that stick out in front and which carry the loads. They are sturdy, they can 'turn on a 50 paise coin' (heh heh... who wants to use the phrase 'turn on a dime'? Mini quiz: What is a dime? If you know what it is, how much is it worth? Does its value have anything to do with the turning radius of a vehicle? No, no, you can’t look at the dictionary or ask your friend...) and they carry heavy loads. And in factories they usually work all the shifts, often round the clock.

What drives them? A motor + a controller + lead-acid batteries! In most factories when one set of batteries get exhausted, they do a quick 'battery swap' with a charged set, and in minutes the forklift can get back to work. This scenario has been part of everyday reality for so many years right here in our own country. All the while the naysayers have been repeating themselves hoarse that the EV is not practical. The EV is running in every 'heavy' factory floor. No need to believe my words; you can arrange a visit and speak to the operators (yes, the 'drivers') and the engineers there. They may not be built for speed like the street car. But when you tote up the load + the speed + the total time of running, you will see that it is a practical EV.

Typical forklift motor being installed into a car

In fact many EV enthusiasts abroad look for old forklift motors and controllers when contemplating a 'cheap' EV conversion of their old cars. Today you can just 'Google' for phrases like 'EV conversion' and bring up hundreds of hits on the Web. Try it today. You will see that so many enterprising and eco-conscious people abroad have converted their ordinary cars into practical EVs with simplicity and ease using parts from a forklift! What is preventing us from doing that--NOW?

FACT: Practical EVs are possible with existing technologies.

The'carbon footprint' reality

Education is sometimes a double-edged sword. What prepares you on the one hand for tackling the problems of today's world in a positive manner can also give you the tools to 'twist' reality. The 'carbon footprint' fallacy is one such.

What is this carbon footprint? Simplified, it means the overall amount of carbon dioxide that is emitted into the atmosphere by a particular process. So the argument of the 'experts' is that say, a million cars burning fossil fuels spew xxxx tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Charging a million EVs require xxx units of electricity, and generating that much electricity takes burning xxx tonnes of coal or oil in thermal power stations, which creates xx tonnes more carbon dioxide than burning fossil fuels. Oh, that is atrocious!

This is when the old saying 'lies, damn lies and then statistics' has to be remembered. This is the way figures can be manipulated by an 'educated' expert to support his --or his sponsor's-- viewpoint.

Even if we accept the 'expert's' figures as 'Gospel Truth', let us ask a few questions.

What are the figures of the carbon dioxide emission of the engine that you have taken? The ‘best’ ones, when the engine is at its optimum? We all know that the typical vehicle engine produces its best efficiency and least pollution at only an optimum RPM or speed. In practice, a vehicle undergoing the 'start-stop-idle-start-crawl' drill and at times on an up-grade in the road, produces much much more pollution products. Nothing has been invented yet to tackle that.

How much of the power grid electricity is produced by thermal generating plants? In Kerala, for example, we have only clean hydel power. I spoke to a power engineer and he told me that today huge power plants are designed for efficiency. They meet stringent pollution/emission standards. And it is easier to design and operate such a plant for an optimum performance, both in output and in pollution. The expertly-monitored power plant is not running like the typical car caught in a mad traffic jam, with the driver revving the engine, wanting to ‘escape’ quickly.

And what about the increasing relevance of renewable technologies like solar and wind solutions? These days even home owners are investing money in solar and wind generators to escape the clutches of the greedy power companies. Wind and solar power is the 'cleanest' that man had learned to generate..correction, extract, from nature.

FACT: The 'carbon footprint fallacy' is a 'created myth'.

FACT:

Your EV will make a big DIFFERENCE.

It will make a difference to the carbon footprint.

It will make a difference to the 'air quality' of cities.
And surely, it will make a difference to your 'pocket'!!

Converted cars .....

 

...with batteries and motor replacing gas engine.

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WINNERS... AND LOSERS

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In any situation, if one is dispassionate, it is interesting to watch both sides of an argument. When the situation moves such that one side has good and solid answers for everything the other side brings up, the stridency of the arguments go up. There usually is then a 'barrage of proofs' why something is not good or viable

I always think: if something is not really good, why waste your breath shouting against it? It will die a natural death because it just is not good enough to survive. Why bother to 'kill' it, put it safely in a coffin and drive in the last nails???

It is because of fear. Fear that you are going to LOSE.

This is the no-win situation in which the oil and car companies find themselves. They ARE afraid of the future trends. If they have some sense and any civic responsibility left, they would do well to side with the customer ready and willing to make a change for the better, and offer him a new choice that he prefers. I have found that even those who consider themselves as 'pretty ordinary' and not at all tech-savvy, display an extraordinary level of common sense when it comes to spending their hard-earned money on something. I am firm in my belief that the average man in the street has more principles than the top executives of multi-nationals when it comes to civic good and eco responsibilities. He will put his money on solutions that he thinks will mitigate the dire situation. I have faith in his goodness to do that; he surely will, PROVIDED he has a clear choice before him.

What are the choices before him now? To exercise a choice you need at least two kinds of something. What we have before us is only a choice of colours and shapes and 'options'. Like the grand-daddy of the auto industry Henry Ford said, '...you could have any colour--so long as it is black...''. A wise business man, he produced his Model-T in only one colour –black-- because it made economic sense. That is what companies bother about--does it make economic sense FOR THEM; not whether it makes ‘sense’ in the broader context.

What is our benign Government’s stand on the need to offer the man in the street a choice of at least one humble model of an EV against a 'bevy of fossil-fuelled beauties'? What is their idea about encouraging at least those with the knowledge and the initiative and the money to go the electric way? What about legislation as the ‘carrot and the stick’ to take care of the situation?

None that I have heard of....

We will look at what the wider world is doing in the field of EVs, and cast our eyes on some really 'fab' EVs that are now beginning to be available, in our later posts.

Until then remember to check out the things that you have learned about and form your own opinions and choices.

And keep those mental batteries charged!

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more to follow

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Go Electric-7

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THINK  GREEN  TODAY...
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Did you notice that today is September 28th? In a world that is obsessed with many dates and days like 9/11 and others of that ilk, it is easy to forget ... or not to remember.

Today is GREEN CONSUMER DAY.

It is undeniable that we are consumers from childhood to second childhood, from the cradle to the grave, and maybe some more. And psychologists will tell us that conspicuous consumption is addictive and can be a disease even. In India, and particularly in Kerala, mindless consumption has reached alarming levels. Has anybody paused to think of the other side of consumption--production? What do we produce, in comparison to what all we consume??

You sure cannot exist without being a consumer, I agree. So the best bet is to be a 'good' consumer, a 'green' consumer.

So, PLEASE, while indulging your need or your passion for consumption, do think about the choices you make in consumption.
It will make a huge difference, not only to yourself, but to the entire world.

Make greener choices...TODAY :

@ Buy products that use minimal packaging
@ Choose products that minimize waste.
@ Avoid disposable products.
@ Avoid Styrofoam and other non-biodegradable plastics
@ Look for energy efficient appliances with the Energy Star rating.
@ Buy items made from recyclable or renewable materials.
@ Buy products that were made locally that required minimal transportation.
@ Save energy whenever possible!
@ Plant a tree wherever possible !!

Make educated choices by learning from sites like << http://www.greenerchoices.org/ >>

It pays in the long run.

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WHERE ARE THEY NOW....??
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For the 'green-conscious' consumer, the auto sector today offers little choice and dis-incentives by way of very high prices. Isn't it time we made our Government sit up and take note that as consumers we are more attuned to the need of the hour to make greener choices.

Where are the 'green' cars ?
And the 'green' scooters and bikes ??
And the 'green' public transportation ???

Give us this day our green options, oh Lord....
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more to follow
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Go Electric-6

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WORLD HEART DAY Today...
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Today is World Heart Day.

Doctors have determined that regular smoking puts great stress on your heart.
Kicking the habit reduces the risk of coronary disease.
So QUIT SMOKING...NOW!!!

A person who smokes only puts himself in jeopardy.
One who uses a vehicle that smokes puts the entire world in jeopardy.

THINK.
It makes sense to QUIT SMOKING...NOW!!!
Society does not look kindly on smokers of one sort or another.

Too much smoke is not good for health.
Too much oil is not good for health.
Too much stress is not good for health.
Too much hurry is not good for health.
Too much anger is not good for health.

Drive carefully.
Drive without stress.
Drive smart.
Drive with a smile.

And remember,  IF YOU DON'T SMOKE, THEN WHY LET YOUR CAR ???
                          IT'S  TIME  BOTH QUIT SMOKING !
                          HAVE  A  HEART !!


Here is to a smoke-free, stress-free, 'green' tomorrow!
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more to follow
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Go Electric-5

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THE SYNERGY OF IT ALL...
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The dictionary defines 'synergy' as a 'combination that is greater than the sum of its parts'. Truly a car is the epitome of synergy.

How many parts go into the average car engine of today? I haven't counted. Maybe some of us should mail our favourite auto maker and request such statistics for our edification. Thousands probably, if you count all the nuts and bolts and the wires and what not. How many more thousands of precision-engineered parts go into the transmission, the steering and brake assemblies, the lighting and air-conditioning systems, not to speak of the entertainment and other electronic systems. A schoolboy (or, girl, for that matter!) will tell you that the average run-about on our streets today has at least a couple of powerful computers, if not more! Unbelievable...

Synergy is good; in fact, synergy is great! But you get to enjoy the fruits of all that synergy only when the thousands of precision parts engage in a complexly-choreographed, intricate 'dance'. One small sensor misbehaving, one small nut loosening, a minute 'timing' difference, or more recently, a small 'software glitch', can bring you down from the clouds to terra firma in an instant, the unwilling victim of the classic 'breakdown'. And today getting out of the situation would need specialist knowledge and tools and equipment on the part of the auto trouble-shooter. The car IS a complex system with many complex sub-systems, period.

The march of technology has overtaken the 'old tech', and today, increasingly, most things are taken care of by the omni-present microcontroller. One good thing though--almost any failure could be attributed to a 'software glitch' by the PR guys! No, you dont talk of software malfunctioning; it is ONLY a glitch. Glitch or failure, it all means the same thing to the user/driver. You are right royally stuck on the road, in the middle of nowhere. The most (in)famous software glitch in recent times was the one that 'bugged' the Toyota Prius model in the US. Toyota had to recall more than 150,000 cars to fix a software bug that made the cars accelerate on its own/not respond to the gas pedal. Easily an instance of software 'crashes' being more lethal than the usual ones on our highways that occur mostly as a result of driver error. Thank the stars (and automakers!) that like the modern child who blamed his calculator batteries for the low grades he got in math, the average driver could always attempt to extricate himself with the non-committal, “Ah, it was my engine micro...what could I do!”.

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COMPLEX  versus  SIMPLE  TECH
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It would be interesting at this stage to take a look at a typical electric car and make a direct comparison with its 'gas' cousin.

[ Note:  'Gas' is used as a 'stand-in' for either petrol or diesel. ]

# The 'gas' car power-train : Engine--> clutch--> gearbox--> wheels

# The electric power-train : motor--> wheels


That would "translate", in the case of the 'gas' car, as:

@ xxxx engine parts + xxx clutch parts + xxxx gearbox parts,
before power is delivered to the wheels.


While in the case of the electric, it would mean:

@ just 1 motor
delivering power directly to the wheels!

And what about driving?

Driving the typical 'gas' car would need a fine co-ordination of the clutch, the gearshift and the accelerator, not to ignore the brake pedal! Again, the driver has to make instantaneous decisions about shifting gears and implement that correctly if the car has to be driven with some amount of efficiency and smoothness, and minimum pollution. This, as we all know, calls for a longer period of training and practice, and in spite of all that, we end up with having a lot of 'below par' drivers on our roads.

Driving the typical electric couldn't be simpler. As they say, it is as easy as "falling off a log". Push the accelerator pedal and the car moves forward in direct proportion to the position of the pedal. Take your foot off the pedal, and regenerative braking (that is, recharging the batteries by using the drive motor as a generator) slows down the vehicle drastically. Only if you need to 'stop in hurry', you have to hit the brake pedal. Reverse? Just throw a switch and press the controller pedal. Sounds simple and easy? The description of it all takes more time than actually doing it!

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REALITY SUCKS !
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We all have come to believe that the "proof of the pudding is in the eating". Sure, any car would be only as good as it can be on the road in real-life conditions, irrespective of how it would have been 'hyped' in advertisements.

In the Indian context almost every customer has his or her favourite story of the wide gulf between 'reality on the ground' and 'wishful thinking' in the clouds. The car (or, for that matter the bike or scooter) with 'smooth-as-silk acceleration' and 'power-to-spare' and a 'certified mileage' of xx km/litre of fuel, turns out to be just average on the road. (No miracle engine has been invented yet that could perform like a 3-litre V-8 engine with just 800 cc capacity!)  And when the occasion comes for you to drive into the fuel pump (all too soon!), you realize that the stated mileage is for an 'ideal' world! This repetitive shock is enough to curtail for ever your initial enthusiasm to 'floor the pedal' and enjoy the 'silky-smooth' drive/ride.

And in India we all take for granted another 'factor' in the mileage equation: xx km/litre needs a re-statement --if you are a schoolboy doing sums! The 'litre' is more often anywhere between 850 mL and 950 mL. It would also take a 'super-skilled' analyst to figure out the mileage loss/engine damage/pollution brought on by the 'additive' of kerosene! It is a laugh--if you are NOT the one paying the money!

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THE "IDLE" REALITY
-------------------------------------
While looking at fuel consumption and pollution critically, one has to be careful not to miss certain obvious factors.

A typical 'gas' engine achieves its performance and efficiency and its pollution factors at an 'optimum' speed. This ideal is never realized in practice. Though the role of the gearbox is to match the engine running at its 'optimum' to meet the requirements of load and speed, this is never achieved, except theoretically when the gearbox has infinite ratios. The engine is at its polluting, uneconomical WORST when it is starting up and accelerating and while it is negotiating climbs. Even on smooth and level highways, we keep hearing the advise to 'be light on the pedal' if you are to reap any economy. Anybody who has stood near a gradient in the road or near a traffic light knows that the engines, irrespective of whether they are from a 'classy stable' or are the products of more mundane parentage, are uniformly 'heavy' in their exhausts.

Another often ignored reality is the 'idling', the interminable wait at the lights, or in our country, in 'jams' and roadblocks, with the engine running. In typical urban traffic, the "stop-start-crawl-stop-wait" drill takes a toll on all the mechanical systems, not to speak of the nerves of the drivers and others. Any small to medium Indian city or town is a living example of the ill effects of the 'clouds' of pollution emitted by hundreds of vehicles going through this drill the whole day and for quite some time in the night too.

Engineers have estimated that three to four times fuel than normally needed is burned up in negotiating a short urban distance than on the open highways. This eats into the economy, while simultaneously upping pollution to unbearable levels.

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THE  ELECTRIC  REALITY
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Let us push the electric car into the above 'hellfire and brimstone' scenario and see what happens.
The "stop-start-crawl-stop-wait" drill appears to be 'tailor-made' for the electric. No frantic 'interplay' of pedals and the handbrake, and no sweat too. Push to go, take off the foot to stop. And the 'idle'? ZERO energy idling for as long as you please, and no 'starting up' before you can go; just another push of the pedal, and off you go.

Engineers will tell you electric motors have a 'characteristic'. At starting, their 'torque' is the highest. As speed mounts, torque comes down. An ideal characteristic for starting and driving a vehicle. This is what makes the electrics do without any complex 'gearing' or gear-shifting. Come to think of it, the giant locomotives that pull nearly a hundred or more loaded wagons are driven by electric motors working on the same principle, no less. What is good for the 'brawny' rail giants cannot be bad for their  'flea-power' road-going cousins.

And what about a couple of hundred electrics 'idling' to their hearts' content? Silent as the grave--because nothing is running! In the days of the super-silent Rolls-Royce, the clock ticked and made a noise; but these days the digital clocks would keep running silently! The only 'pollution' will be caused by the carbon dioxide exhalations of the occupants of the cars! Really ?!!

Just that one factor of a ZERO ENERGY, ZERO EMISSION idling is what should recommend the electric as THE vehicle of choice for the busy urban landscapes.

Are our Town planners and the Civic Fathers listening? They better listen...because today 'the man in the street' knows better.
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(more to follow)

Go Electric-4

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CAR-bon  FREE  DAY  today...

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It is another RED LETTER DAY today. But the red is the 'other kind of red' at which we freeze in alarm and stop in our tracks -- literally! One hundred years of 'progress' with the hydrocarbon engines... and what have we got? Virtually all from six to sixty are in agreement that the Planet is wheezing and sneezing and feeling 'hot' and threatened with the accumulated carbon-related emissions.  Hence we have today the CAR-FREE DAY, the CARBON-FREE DAY....

Everybody is in agreement--except that is the car majors and the oil barons, who are probably busy funding another 'expert study' to tell you that a car free day can do pretty little to alter the carbon footprint! We know for a fact that they have not shut down their assembly lines or the refineries, or for that matter any of their umpteen oil wells for a day. But we are curious to know what exactly are they doing for us, for the Planet, today at least. Are we on a futile campaign? Quite often you feel that you are bashing your head against a stone wall, but then we all know that it is something that can move even stone walls.

One hundred years of 'engineering refinement' has given us shorter and shorter times in which to reach the magical 0 to 60 mph acceleration. Or, is that exhilaration? Truly. But at what cost? The hydrocarbon-powered, carbon oxide-spewing autos have taken over--at first our cities, then our countrysides and now our Planet, altering our lifestyles and affecting our lives in many unseen and unhealthy ways. The damage is done and it is irreversible.

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THE CAR HAS ARRIVED!

--------------------------------

The car aficionados can rightly be proud of the achievement of the last one hundred years of 'development'. From the chugging curiosities on the dirt tracks of the last century, the car has been transformed into the quintessence of engineering perfection and luxury that man can devise. The induction of computers as engine management controllers and their increasing role as 'overall' controllers for air-conditioning to entertainment to road safety and navigation has indeed converted the typical car into a 'smart' entity. Breakdowns and malfunctions are only a distant memory for most of the car users. All these and more are undeniable facts and we can say with pride, yes the 'smart car has arrived'. This IS the 'smart' era when everything from phones to lavatories are endowed with the 'smarts' --except perhaps their users!

Look at today's car. You can say the engine has 'not changed much' from its ancestors. But is that the truth? The engineering that has gone into today's engines has made them veritable marvels. The same goes for transmissions, brakes, lights and such like. What about creature comforts like air-conditioning, entertainment systems and satellite navigation? Some of the car entertainment systems easily surpass the average home hi-fi systems! And sat-nav has empowered the driver like never before, whether he is on home turf or on unexplored territory. Vehicle safety has taken the front seat with anti-collision systems and anti-locking brakes and air-bags and other safety devices like 'reversing helpers'. Baby, today's car has come really far, we have to admit.

But pause to take a look at the basic tech that powers the car. No major changes, none. We had the 'anti-knock-additives' scare in the last century. It was lead and it led to many health hazards. So today we have lead-free fuels. Then we had the pollution problems caused by carbon dioxide and the more poisonous carbon monoxide and the oxides of nitrogen. Millions of tons of all those life-threatening pollutants spewed out into the atmosphere was causing everything from respiratory diseases to acid rain to global warming and aberrations in the Planet's weather. So they tacked on catalytic converters and other such gizmos, and slowly brought in legislation to 'improve' the quality of the fuel. So far so good.

But was there any light really at the end of the tunnel? Were alternative technologies being investigated by institutions or governments? Not that we heard of except the ‘half-hearted’ attempts that were cobbled together for the sake of "public relations". Every car company has an electric ‘in the works’; but sadly, the technology is not mature enough for implementation now, according to the pundits. The systematic 'burial of the unborn' was the one policy in sight all along despite the laudable efforts of many.

And the writing on the wall now?

We ARE committed to one thing, and that is the hydrocarbon fuels; nothing else is good enough.

THEY have decided for US.

Do we want to accept that lock, stock and barrel... hook, line and sinker?

Baby, we have another thing coming!! 

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(more to follow)