Blog: Solar Panels charging Li-ion Batteries of Electric Cars ?

Thursday 4 May 2017

Solar Panels charging Li-ion Batteries of Electric Cars ?

Without doubt , that is the HOLY GRAIL for pollution / global warming / climate control

And my heart swells with pride to know that scientists of ISRO are about to achieve this PANACEA , not only for India but for the entire World !

Read following news report ( Times of India / 04 May 2017 ) :

“ ISRO unveils indigenous green-friendly hybrid car “

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) recently demonstrated an environment-friendly solar hybrid electric car, designed and developed using in-house resources, at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvanathanapuram.

The announcement about the car was made this week.

VSSC is Isro's centre for making rockets like the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, the Geo Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle and the Reusable Launch Vehicle.

The demonstration included a successful uphill drive.

Isro is now researching ways to cut down the car's cost.

Explaining the project's significance, Isro said, vehicles using fossil fuels cause problems to environment and life.

“ An ideal transportation system should envisage zero emission,“ it said.

THE CAR IS RUN USING HIGH-ENERGY LITHIUM ION BATTERIES, WHICH CAN BE RECHARGED USING SUNLIGHT, SAID SOURCES.

The main challenges in developing the vehicle included designing a solar panel on top of the car and also control electronics for the battery and solar panel interface and, what is known as, “drive electronics“ to run the car smoothly .

To understand the IMPLICATION / SIGNIFICANCE of this breakthrough, consider following :

· Li-ion Batteries constitute , nearly 50 % of the EV price . That means , Li-ion battery of a Mahindra e2o car ( selling for approx. Rs 10 lakh ), would be close to Rs 5 lakh

What if that car was priced at Rs 6 lakhs ? It seems possible , as shown below

· Battery cost alone works out to approx. Rs 18 per km ( replacement cost )

· Charging cost ( for 300 km ) works out to Rs 1 per km

· So , total operating cost per km works out to Rs 19 ( Rs 18 + Rs 1 )

· BUT IF SOLAR PANELS MOUNTED ON CAR ROOF-TOP , WERE TO CHARGE THAT LI-ION BATTERY , THEN THAT “ CHARGING COST “ ( RS 1 / KM ) , JUST DISAPPEARS !

Equally important is the fact that , with Solar Car Roof Top panels , we don’t need lakhs of battery charging stations , located every 3 km !

These Battery Charging Stations would have needed power which would have come from Coal – based power stations – a source of CO2 and particulate matter , causing 6 lakh premature deaths per year in India alone !

· And with Roof top mounted Solar panels , continuously charging the battery , we would need a small battery ( 5 Kwh ? ) whose cost may come down from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 1 lakh , drastically bringing down the ex-showroom selling price

If battery price comes down from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 1 lakh , then Replacement cost would come down from Rs 18 / km to Rs 4 / km ( far less than petrol cost of Rs 7 / km ! ) . Who would want a petrol car ?

If Electric cars were to cost same ( or less than ) as the petrol driven cars , there would be no need to “ incentivize “ the car manufacturers or car owners with any kind of “ subsidy “ !

Government will manage to achieve its target to have 6 million electric cars by 2022 , without any problem !

· India’s current Energy Import Bill is $ 150 Billion and expected to go up to $ 300 Billion by 2030

By aggressively implementing ISRO technology , we could cut down on our oil imports , very substantially , besides meeting the goals agreed upon at Paris

Welcome ,Elon Musk !

( - we are ready for some healthy competition )

{ https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/02/welcome-elon-musk.html }

I hope Shri Nitin Gadkariji and Shri Piyush Goyalji , treats this opportunity as :

A Take Off Time ?

{ https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/04/a-take-off-time.html }