🏎️ Can We Replace EVs?
Your EVs may not be as green as you think and right now they've become a little problematic. So, here are a few alternative green vehicle options.
That's the amount of money that companies are set to invest in the EV sector over the next five years.
But issues such as the semiconductor shortages, exploding EVs, charging anxiety, and EV chargers using the same old non-renewable fossil fuels could land the EV industry into trouble.
However, with 21% of global carbon emissions coming from the transportation sector, green vehicles are the need of the hour.
But green vehicles need not necessarily be EVs. Today we look at other possible substitutes that could be an exciting alternative to the very hot EVs (quite literally!).
🧐 Substitutes for EVs
Hydrogen: One of the most popular alternatives to EVs is hydrogen-powered cars (you can read more about them here).
There are several ways hydrogen can be used to power cars:
One way is through hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. These are just like EVs but instead of using lithium-ion powered batteries they use hydrogen to produce electricity.
The second way is using hydrogen as a fuel instead of using fossil fuels. This kind of car is more tricky but Toyota is working on making it a reality.
The third kind is not directly powered by hydrogen but rather by ammonia. A US startup called Amogy has recently created a method through which we can use ammonia as fuel. The ammonia breaks down into hydrogen which powers the vehicle.
But why ammonia? Why not use hydrogen directly?
Well, creating green hydrogen is a very difficult and costly process. And if the hydrogen isn't green, there really is no point in using it.
Ammonia, on the other hand, is super easy to produce. In fact, it is the world's second most-produced chemical.
And the company aims to pitch ammonia as the perfect solution for farm vehicles to go green.
The agriculture sector right now cannot really adopt EVs.
Because a lot of farmers need to use their tractors for hours on end in acres and acres of long fields.
They cannot afford to run out of charge in the middle of the field.
So, electrifying these vehicles isn't really a valid option.
However, these ammonia-powered cars will not only run longer than EVs, refuelling them is also easy as most farmers already use ammonia as a fertiliser.
But…
Problem 1: Hydrogen-powered vehicles are too costly right now to be widely accepted.
Problem 2: If hydrogen escapes into the environment through these vehicles, it can trap more heat than even carbon dioxide, thus increasing global temperatures.
Solutions:
More innovative tech needs to be built to ensure no hydrogen escapes.
Green hydrogen infrastructure needs to be created.
Mass production of hydrogen-powered cars needs to be facilitated.
Solar Energy: Solar energy and wind energy have long been favourites of environmental enthusiasts. And why not. We basically get these energy resources for free throughout the year.
But they're not easy to harness, which is why we've been stuck with fossil fuels for so long.
However, one company has finally figured out the trick to make the most out of the sunlight we get.
A Dutch startup Lightyear has launched a car that can run on solar power alone for around 7 months straight, give or take the amount of sunlight you get.
The company's curved solar roof basically works as an automatic charger at least in the summer months.
Problem: The car will be priced at around $263,000, making it too expensive for most. Plus, the company will only be making 949 such cars. But with no charging or fuel required for months, the initial cost of the car is quite justified.
Solution: The company could share the tech to make this car (which took them six years to develop) with other carmakers for a price to expedite the manufacturing and maybe help reduce the price.
Apart from these two game-changing green vehicle options that could bring down carbon emissions from the transportation sector to zero, there are many other solutions being explored as well.
You see, the world has kind of realised that putting all our eggs in one basket (the petrol and diesel basket) has been harmful. So, we don't want to repeat the same mistake with EVs.
However, with us exploring too many options and efficient green energy solutions taking years to perfect, we may end up losing this race to climate change.
⚡In a line: EVs may be all the rage right now but they’re far from perfect so companies are coming up with hydrogen and solar-powered cars that could replace EVs.
💡Quick question: Do you know about any other tech that can replace EVs?
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