INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRIC
VEHICLES FOR DUMMIES
But Smart People Are Welcome Too!
There are 4 main types
of electric vehicles that
you need to know...
EV TYPES
BEV (Battery electric vehicle) only power source is a battery pack.
HEV (Hybrid electric vehicle) - has
a battery that is charged by an ICE
engine.
PHEV (Plug in hybrid electric
vehicle) - has a battery that is
charged by both an ICE engine or an
external charger.
FCEV (Fuel cell electric vehicle) has battery pack that is charged by
a fuel cell which uses hydrogen.
*Above are electric vehicle types, not electric battery
types like lithium ion, lithium nickel manganese cobalt
or lithium iron phosphate.
EV TYPES
Hydrogen FCEVs are the least common type
of electric vehicle. While hydrogen is freely
available in nature, its low energy efficiency
& the prohibitive costs of storage &
transport have made it not feasible
commercially unless there is a major
technological breakthrough.
electric vehicle chemistry
An EV battery cell has an anode (-ve
electrode) and cathode (+ve electrode),
separated by a plastic-like material. When
the two electrodes are connected externally,
ions travel through a liquid electrolyte
inside the cell. This transforms chemical
energy to electrical energy.
MORE DEFINITIONS
Recently PHEVs (Plug in hybrid
electric vehicle) are being known
as PHICE (Plug in hybrid internal
combustion engine vehicle) as a
reminder that they still use fossil
fuels.
HICEV (Hydrogen internal
combustion engine vehicle) is a
type of hydrogen vehicle using an
internal combustion engine. HICEVs
are different from hydrogen FCEVs,
which utilize hydrogen electrochemically rather than through
combustion.
There are 3 main
challenges to the
adoption of electric
vehicles...
ev challenges
Purchase cost - EVs have a higher
purchase cost (X2-X3) than ICEVs but
lower operational cost (30-75%).
Range - EVs currently have single
charge range of 300 - 500 km while
ICEVs have full tank range of 400 700 km.
Charging infrastructure - there are
only 2.8 million public EV chargers
globally serving probably 10
vehicles each daily. Compared to
over 2.5 million public fuel pumps
each serving probably 100 vehicles
daily.
There are many lies, half
truths & ignorant claims
about electric vehicles...
ev myths
1. EVs damage the environment.
2. EVs take too long to charge.
3. EVs are too expensive.
4. EV batteries catch fire.
5. EVs have short life span.
6. EVs have limited range.
7. EVs are too slow.
8. EVs need subsidies to work.
9. EVs will take decades to work.
10. EVs cant work on the current grid.
These claims are mainly pushed by
ignorance, & entities that stand to
lose most when fossil fuel based
industries lose their markets.
GREENWASHING
'Green’ advertising by companies
most responsible for climate
change & environmental damage
to mislead the public about their
sustainability.
Mainly done by oil marketers and
ICE vehicle manufacturers whose
core business remains fossil fuel
based, but they give a false view of
working towards net zero goals.
They lobby governments & policy
makers to have their products
categorised as green or sustainable
when they are not.
The fossil fuel
industry is the
polluted heart of
the climate crisis.
ANTONIO GUTERRES
UN SECRETARY GENERAL
Fossil fuels cause deadly air pollution
*Vehicle pollution
kills more people
annually than
vehicle accidents.
ADVANCED MOBILITY
*According to WHO, global road crash fatalities are
approx 1.3 million deaths annually.
There are also 6.7 million deaths each year from
exposure to ambient and household air pollution.
Vehicles contribute at least 35% of air pollution,
therefore causing about 2.3 million of air pollution
deaths.
Market numbers give a
good insight on the
future of electric
vehicles...
ICE vs ev trend
Since 2017, new ICE vehicle sales have been
on a downward trend to date, while new EV
sales have been rising steadily. In 2022 over
10.5 million electric vehicles were sold
globally by leading brands such as BYD,
Tesla and VW.
MAIN REASON FOR EV ADOPTION
Non-renewable fossil fuels like coal,
oil & gas currently supply about 80%
of the world’s energy.
Their burning produces greenhouse
gases that cause global warming
with severe effects like sea level
rising, extreme weather, biodiversity
loss and species extinction, food
scarcity, worsening health & national
poverty.
The worsening climate change could
be irreversible by 2030.
Greenhouse gases are at the highest
levels ever and continue to rise.
We are the first
generation to feel
the impact of
climate change &
the last one that
can do something
about it.
BARACK OBAMA
COMMERCIAL REASON FOR EV ADOPTION
Generally EVs have lower total
cost of ownership than ICE
vehicles. EVs have a higher
purchase cost (X2-X3) than ICEs but
lower operational cost (30-75%).
Currently an EV has to do generally
high mileage daily (100-200 km) to
achieve a lower total cost.
By 2025 an EV is expected to have
equal or lower purchase cost than
an ICE vehicle due to improvements
in technology, production and
economies of scale.
NATIONAL REASON FOR EV ADOPTION
For most countries the biggest forex
cost is oil, this has given OPEC
countries global political leverage for
many decades. Many wars right now
are also because of oil.
EVs can be charged with energy from
any source whether hydro,
geothermal, solar, wind, coal or
nuclear - not just oil.
They bring an opportunity for energy
security and economic
independence for a nation, hence
most countries are putting policies
to support e-mobility.
Control oil and
you control
nations; control
food and you
control the
people.
HENRY A. KISSINGER
POLICY REASON FOR EV ADOPTION
Over 40 countries are on course to
banning sale of ICE vehicles in their
markets by 2040.
China is the world's largest auto
market at 26.8 million new vehicles
annually. By 2035 50% of all their
new vehicles must be electric, fuel
cell, or plug-in hybrid – the
remaining 50% to be hybrid
vehicles.
Ford, Mercedes, Volvo, BYD &
Jaguar Land Rover are among the
carmakers with a goal to end ICE
vehicle production by 2035.
Not every use case is
ideal for electric
vehicles...
EV best use case
Vehicle range radius - movement
to be within the range of the
battery or nearest charger.
Adequate daily mileage* - vehicle
to have frequent daily mileage to
accumulate enough operation
savings to offset the higher
purchase cost.
Overnight charging - availability of
overnight charging point, usually at
home or work where 95% of EV
charging occurs.
*Most vehicles are parked 95% of the time. This is
gross underutilization & most ineffective use of an EV.
CONCLUSION
There are over 2.1 billion ICE
vehicles on the planet. The
sustainability goal is not to replace
all of them with EVs. It is to reduce
the overall global fleet size as
people find better means of
mobility.
Mass transit options like buses &
trains, micro mobility options like
bikes & scooters, vehicle sharing
options, work from or closer to
home options, and more 2W/3W
vehicles rather than big 4W types.
The earth will
move to a
sustainable
energy future in
our lifetime
ELON MUSK
DO YOU AGREE THAT
E-MOBILITY IS THE
REVOLUTION OF THE
CENTURY?
If you find this
summary
interesting or
insightful, let's
connect on
LinkedIn & keep
sharpening
each other.
#HereWeGoElectric
Alex Munene
Fleet Mobility Expert
alex.munene@advancedmobility.co.ke