In my opinion, in the UK we dont have the infrastructure to move to fully electric vehicles over night. The infrastructure is current wired for petrol and diesel. There inst enough charging points and also the power industry couldn't cope.

That said, for me the best option is to adopt more hybrid powered cars which are more fuel efficient in the short term. Then as the infrastructure for electric charging increases move to Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV).

Long term we need to look at were the power is coming from. Its great if everyone is driving electric cars, the air pollution will be less in our towns and cities, brilliant. However, if the extra power required to charge these vehicles is coming from a coal powered power station that, that is not so good.

I feel like to get the fully advantage of electric cars we need the power generation industries and automotive industries working together to achieve the same goal. The power needs to come from renewable sources such as wind and the automotive companies need to continue to develop the range on BEV's and develop lightweight advancements in automotive bodywork to offset the weight of the battery packs but also maintain / improve safety.

As for the argument for hybrids being easier to fuel at any time, agreed that is an advantage. However, having run an electric car I will say it requires a change in culture. You need to plan your journeys in advance and ensure you have the charge prior to the journey. It doesnt take long to adapt. Long term the vehicles are developing greater ranges and the technology behind charging is improving and the charge times are decreasing.

I believe Hybrid car having both Electric and Gasoline properties is more useful. You can into gasoline any time when Electric charge is Finished. Regards

Dear Fazleh

For me the most compelling reason that hybrids are superior than all electric cars is because, as Ahsan says, you don't risk being left in the middle of nowhere when the electric juice is depleted.

Hybrid cars gives you an extra option of electric charge and gas. Further, these cars are better equipped to run in varied conditions and hence, are far more superior than full electric cars.

In my opinion, in the UK we dont have the infrastructure to move to fully electric vehicles over night. The infrastructure is current wired for petrol and diesel. There inst enough charging points and also the power industry couldn't cope.

That said, for me the best option is to adopt more hybrid powered cars which are more fuel efficient in the short term. Then as the infrastructure for electric charging increases move to Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV).

Long term we need to look at were the power is coming from. Its great if everyone is driving electric cars, the air pollution will be less in our towns and cities, brilliant. However, if the extra power required to charge these vehicles is coming from a coal powered power station that, that is not so good.

I feel like to get the fully advantage of electric cars we need the power generation industries and automotive industries working together to achieve the same goal. The power needs to come from renewable sources such as wind and the automotive companies need to continue to develop the range on BEV's and develop lightweight advancements in automotive bodywork to offset the weight of the battery packs but also maintain / improve safety.

As for the argument for hybrids being easier to fuel at any time, agreed that is an advantage. However, having run an electric car I will say it requires a change in culture. You need to plan your journeys in advance and ensure you have the charge prior to the journey. It doesnt take long to adapt. Long term the vehicles are developing greater ranges and the technology behind charging is improving and the charge times are decreasing.

Dear Martin

I very much like your response, because it brings something that many people do not realize.

There is no doubts that electric and hybrid cars bring benefits to the environment, especially the first one, because the second also burn fossil fuels.

However, in both cases cars consume electric energy that has to be generated, therefore, from the environmental point of view, I believe that it is not enough to set preferences by one system or another.

It depends where the energy comes from. If in the long term horizon, all electric energy will come from renewable sources, obviously the electric car is the winner, but at present, we can't assert that one system is better that the other, because electrical energy generated by renewable sources is only a fraction of the total production of a country. Therefore, in my opinion, we should estimate the contamination produced by generating electricity from non-renewable sources in both types of cars.

There is also an attractive alternative that is the hydrogen cell, and where a car, loaded with hydrogen produces its own electricity, delivering power and water. However, there are not hydrogen deposits, and consequently, it has to be produced by chemical processes such as steam reforming. Problem is that here it is also necessary to use fossil fuels.

As a conclusion, it appears that the convenience, from the environmental point of view, of using an electric or a hybrid car depends on each country production of clean energy.

Nolberto Munier well said completely agree. Your point on hydrogen powered is spot on, it would be Interesting to see the developments in hydrogen powered cars.

I know mitsubishi was looking into hydrogen powered vehicle. See the article below:

https://www.shell.co.uk/make-the-future/cleaner-mobility/the-great-travel-hack/usa/fuels-and-vehicles.html?gclsrc=aw.ds&&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2tb8mt-R4gIVFZ7VCh3ClgvREAAYASAAEgJu4vD_BwE

Martin

Thank you the information

I think you all have suggested good ideas on how to improve cars and its benefits to our environment.

Regarding charging stations, different resource allocation models can be created that sees the allocation of charging stations to different parts of the country but my question is what do we do to the current diesel and gasoline powered vehicles? and how do we make electric or hydrogen powered vehicles affordable for the population?

Dear Egbe

Regarding your question I think that if demand for electric and hybrid cars increases, the large companies will be phasing out the conventional gasoline and diesel cars and switching to the fabrication of electric cars, as is happening in these very days.

Little by little the the conventional cars will be fading out.

I imagine that a similar phenomenon started more than 100 years ago when horse-drawn carriages were being replaced by cars, and again when railways gave way to buses.

This switching is something that have occurred very often during the 20th Century, when typewriters, teletypes, vinyl discs, sawing machines, linotypes, turntables and speakers, photographic cameras, carbon paper, and many other devices quietly disappeared.

Nolberto,

Thats completely true! As of 2010 we have 1 billion cars in the world in which a great percentage of that are gasoline powered. Are they going to recycle that number of vehicles or is it going to become waste for our environment?

My point is that its going to be difficult to completely remove gasoline powered vehicles in the next 15-20 years.

Thanks for all the interesting comments and perspectives, so far

Faz

What do you want to know from your question?

Dear Egbe

For decades now cars at the end of their life are recycled and about 75 % recovered.

The recovery process involves dismantling a car, and getting parts are are resold in junk yards, and then pieces such as tires, engines, starters, etc. are used for other vehicles, while catalytic converters, are sought to recover valuable platinum.

Oil and gasoline and transmission fluids are removed and sold for different applications, as well as cooling gas used for air conditioning.

Finally, the body is crushed and send to steel mills, which melt them to produce new steel, with a considerable saving of more than 70% in making new steel from mining sources.As a matter of fact some car terminals are involved in this business and in some countries a fee is paid for the owner of a junk car for its transportation and disposal.

Nolberto,

1. Yes i agree with you that the cars are dismantled and sold as parts

2. This parts are sold to people that are using gasoline powered cars and need it to fix their cars. Car manufacturers do not but this part and use it in producing new cars?

3. The currently recycling process you have mentioned is only in developed countries like US, UK, China etc. what happens to underdeveloped countries in Africa and other parts of the world that do not have such recycling power/facilities

Dear Egbe

I never worked in the car assembly industry; therefore, my opinion has a relative value.

Regrading your questions.

I understand that you are questioning why car plants do not use recycled parts for their new cars. Is that correct?

In my opinion there are very compelling reasons for then not to use old parts as follows:

1. Normally new cars have new engines to get more power and most specially to consume less fuel.

This means that new parts and procedures are usually developed. For example, carburetors to dose the amount of fuel into the cylinder are no longer used, and have been replaced by fuel injection systems. Therefore, what do a car plant need a carburetor for?

2. Think about other parts such a starting motor. It is composed by an electric motor and comes in a frame that is bolted to the engine frame. If a new engine is built most probably it will need a different starting motor with more or less power and with different means to attach the starting motor. What is then the use of the old starter for?

3. However, assume that some parts can indeed be used. Consequently, a part has to be disassembled, cleaned, repaired if necessary and tested. Can you imagine the cost of it?

4. Using old parts would constitute a very complicated logistic problem. Nowadays car plants are working with the ‘just on time’ concept, meaning that everyday parts are arriving the plant and directly sent to the assembly line; there are no stocks.

Can you imagine doing that with reconditioned parts? First, they have to be separated from the old engine, transported to a car facility where they are inspected as mentioned. Now, who can guarantee supply of a specific part considering the thousands of cars in the junk yard pertaining to many different makers

The second question is for me more difficult to answer, however, consider that normally there are not car plants in very undeveloped countries. In all Africa probably there are no more that three car assembly plants in South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana, and perhaps in some other country.

However, because they are low-income countries, there is probably not a very large demand of new cars, although possibly a large demand for used car and parts. Look at the example of Cuba, there is not a car plant there and the country is full of vintage cars from the mid 20th Century, which obviously work thanks to the ability of Cuban mechanics in repairing several times the same part.

Dear Colleagues and Friends from RG, In my opinion, technologies should be developed, both pro-ecological technologies for propulsion of motor vehicles in a fully electric and hybrid formula. For passenger cars that do not require high power engines, fully electric motors should be the more appropriate solution. On the other hand, for vehicles equipped with high-power engines, i.e. large trucks, construction machinery, high-power tractors, i.e. in a situation where purely electric drive may be too weak.

Thanks to ecological innovations, the scope and possibilities of implementing sustainable proecological economic development are increasing. In connection with the ongoing process of global warming, it is necessary to develop ecological innovations in the field of renewable energy sources development, improvement of waste sorting techniques, development of recycling, electromobility, ecological agriculture, reduction of plastic from packaging and replacement of plastic with biodegradable materials, etc.

In my opinion, the key to the development of autonomous car technologies is the issue of developing the necessary infrastructure and security services so that the development of autonomous car technologies and the increase in the number of autonomous cars do not increase the statistics on the number of road accidents.

In addition, the development of autonomous car technologies can be parallel to the development of electromobility. For the development of electromobility and the number of electric cars in use, it is also necessary to build the necessary infrastructure installed along roads, urban streets and inter-city communication arteries of charging points for batteries with electricity.

In some countries, active electromobility development policies are implemented, under which the state subsidizes the purchase of an electric car from public finance funds and invests in projects to develop the necessary infrastructure for charging points for electricity. Further power plants for the production of electricity under the development of renewable energy sources are also being built, because the development of electromobility causes a significant increase in demand for electricity. Unfortunately, this type of pro-ecological, active policy of electromobility development is carried out only in some countries.

In relation to the above, can the future development of pro-ecological motorization in connection with modern information technologies be presented according to the following formula: Electromobility + Autonomous cars + Smart city + Robotics Technologies Industry 4.0 = Automated autonomous ecological cars. In connection with the above, the key question is: Will the combination of currently developed Industry 4.0 technologies, i.e. primarily advanced information technologies and technologies in the field of: Electromobility + Autonomous cars + Smart city + Robotics in the perspective of the next years to create automated autonomous ecological cars?

However, the development of electromobility is not fast. Why is this happening?

- What is the reason for the slow development of electromobility technology?

- Are current battery technologies insufficient? Do current batteries charge too slowly and store electricity for a limited, short life of the car after charging the batteries?

- Is too much energy consumed during battery production? Is neutralization of acids during the disposal of used batteries associated with serious problems and a threat to the natural environment?

- Is there still no developed infrastructure for charging points for batteries in electric cars? Should the necessary innovative solutions be developed, such as the new generation roadway recently created in Scandinavia, on which the electric cars that charge the batteries themselves?

- Are lobbying companies from the energy sector of fossil combustion and automotive companies as well as the pricing policy of energy raw materials the main barriers to ecological reforms and the development of electromobility?

- Are lobbying companies from the mining sector and the energy sector based on the burning of minerals and automotive companies as well as the pricing policy of energy raw materials the main determinants slowing down the implementation of necessary ecological reforms and the development of electromobility in the automotive field?

Lobbying of companies in the mining sector, the energy sector based on the burning of minerals and car concerns as well as the pricing policy of energy raw materials are the main factors slowing down the implementation of necessary pro-ecological reforms, including, among others, the implementation of ecological innovations in the field of developing energy based on renewable energy sources and the development of electromobility in automotive field.

It is therefore necessary to change the development policy of the energy sector and in shaping the development of the automotive industry taking into account the key aspects of ecology. The state should co-finance the construction of power plants producing electricity and heat based on renewable energy sources. In this way, it will be possible to implement realistically sustainable sustainable economic development carried out according to the green economy concept.

Therefore, the following questions also arise:

- Which types of electromobility or alternative solutions for the pro-ecological powering of motor vehicles are being developed in your countries?

- Is it based mainly on purely electric or hybrid engines combining electric and combustion or other power supply or power supply based on hydrogen and oxygen combustion or biogas combustion?

- In connection with the need to accelerate the implementation processes of sustainable pro-ecological economic development, should governments be activating and co-financing pro-ecological electromobility development programs?

Best wishes

Dariusz Prokopowicz

Hi. In my opinion, the debate are far from the combustible, and the propellant. We must include what to do with batteries, and see all vehicle cost to environment, their production chain and the chain of combustible too. Its like nuclear power plant, that's have a clean basis, but the by-product are terrible. So, something that looks like clean, may be not.

Dear Sandro

You are absolutely write. I always maintained your same point of view in the sense that it is necessary to think how electricity is generated and the pollution that it produces or what to do with the nuclear wastes, for which there is no a solution yet.

However I did not think about the batteries as you say, and it is a good point. I don't know if this type of batteries may be recycled, albeit I believe that that is very feasible.

Problem with full electric cars is the materials required for the batteries. There is a shortage of these materials, such as Cobalt. Use of fuel cells could provide us with much better overall (Life Cycle) emission figures.

Robert, I believe that you are right, to say nothing of the pollution from the exhausted batteries.

In fuel cells pollution is only derived from producing electricity to obtain hydrogen