The first race held on a closed circuit was won by Riker an electric car manufactured by the Electric Motor Company. The second position also went to another electric car and the gasoline one just appeared in third place. The year was 1896 and 60,000 people saw a future in Rhode Island’s Trotting Park that would take more than 110 years to materialize. We would have to wait until the 21st century when Steve Jobs gave the world the dream of the Smartphone and lithium ion battery technologies began to evolve incessantly.
the invention of John Goodenough who is now 100 years old and received the Nobel in 2019 is part of the heart of a revolution that sooner rather than later will be at the door of his house. The myth that these cars are expensive and do not have enough autonomy collapses every day with greater force. In the Nissan Innovation WeekNEWS tested a mid-range car, the Nissan Leaf, for 1 hour and a half through the complex streets and avenues of São Paulo (Brazil) and only 10 percent of the battery was consumed.
Scalability
The secret why 2022 is the year where electric cars begin to notice their presence worldwide and no longer in particular markets is the decrease in the cost of batteries. “In electric cars, the main component of the cost is the battery, not the motor,” says Francisco Medina, head of Operations for EVs (Electric Vehicles) at Nissan. About 60% of the cost is in the batteriesto give a point of comparison, a car contains around 4,000 smartphone batteries and even so its price has been falling rapidly.
However, this could be stopped due to the high global demand for the lithium a key component of which Argentina It is a global supplier. Since the beginning of 2021, lithium has risen more than 700%, but values are expected to normalize as mining projects develop. In addition to being expensive, lithium-ion batteries are heavy, and it is at both points that new technology emerges.
“The future is solid-state batteries that use 65% less lithium and have better performance in terms of weight and performance,” said Chris Reed, VP of research and development, Nissan Americas. From NASA, through universities and the entire automotive industry, research is focused on making this technology available in the very near future to give the final blow that electric cars impose worldwide.
Another myth is loading times. While slow charging like the one that happens when you plug it into the house outlet can take 6 hours or more, manufacturers have fast charges that reduce the times to 45 minutes. At the Idaho National Laboratories in the United States, they are working through artificial intelligence algorithms to achieve what is known as supercharging.
Batteries are normally charged in batches. The standard charging protocol delivers power and then reduces the voltage by 60 to 70 percent to preserve battery life and not unnecessarily stress it. “What we did was develop algorithms based on artificial intelligence to alter this charging cycle and be able to deliver more energy. As a result, we managed to do simulations where we achieved charging times of only 10 minutes for 90% of the battery, and these results were later verified in real batteries”, reveals Erik Dufek, the researcher in charge of the development. And the most remarkable thing is that implementing this new technology only requires one software updateNo need to buy new batteries.
The experience of electric cars also has a lot to do with the goal of creating a sustainable world. “Perhaps not so much has been said, but in the last 20 years there have been many advances for combustion engines. Its use has been optimized by up to 90% so that emissions are as low as possible. There is no longer room for innovation on that side. Now it is the turn of the electricians. In the last 10 years on this side we have made more progress than in a century”, highlights Medina.
The other front that positions electric cars are the autonomous and semi-autonomous systems where the car makes decisions about how to drive. “More than 90 percent of the Fatal accidents are due to human error. We want to bring this percentage to zero”, says Ricardo Abe, Senior Manager of Research and Development of Nissan South America.
Thanks to sensors and artificial intelligence systems these cars are increasingly able to assist drivers better. Even Nissan works in the area they call “Brain to Performance” or Mind for Performance in which they are getting cars to improve response times when making decisions such as cornering or braking. The system can anticipate what the mind decides before it finishes executing it.
Likewise, it can also improve the concentration times of drivers by avoiding dangerous distractions, technologies that are already being experienced in Formula e racers, the race similar to Formula 1 but electric that will be in South America for the first time in 2023 with its arrival in Brazil.
What happens in Argentina
In our country the landing of the electric ones has been taking place from multiple fronts, although slower than in other countries of the region. “During almost 3,500 electric and hybrid cars were sold this year increasing 28% compared to last year. In Chile the numbers are similar but the growth is more than 180%.
The difference is also noticeable in the legislative treatment: “In Chile they have already achieved half a sanction and in Argentina meetings are just being held in the Senate on the law that promotes electromobility”, comments Marianela Taborelli, analyst of the electric car market at portalmovilidad.com. The lack of regulations collides with the reality of the street. There are indeed electric cars that circulate beyond what current regulations allow them.
The current moment favors the appearance of all kinds of start-ups. An example is transform a traditional vehicle into an electric onea crucial idea so that the entire fleet does not have to be scrapped. Premium Motion is an Argentine company that is dedicated to ensuring that a traditional car can be upgraded to electric, an incipient field where homologations will surely be carried out to guarantee its proper functioning.
On the low-end side is where there is another opportunity for emerging Argentine companies. It is that the technology is reaching such a degree of evolution that the integration of parts from different suppliers plus a certain idea of design or functionality make the difference.
It is the case of titusthe Argentine electric car that is around 2 million pesos, or Tita in its utility version, both from the Coradir company. These models also have different types of battery that give them greater autonomy.
Volt Motors which is located in the Skirt, Cordova, It already has two cars approved, the utility W1 and the E1, which can accommodate two people with two small children. These are cars that have a range of about 200km and reach speeds of 105km/h.
Since Castelar Sero Electric has four models approved for driving on public roads at 50 km/h. finally in Missions is the Hamelbot company with its proposal for the CR2 car linked to the tourism and surveillance sectors. All are based on achieving great integrations of local components while importing motors and batteries. There is really a lot of room to develop and as Lego pieces become more and more available, it is to be hoped that new proposals will be able to put together models for all kinds of needs.
The large local automakers have not yet started the scale manufacturing of the electric models that they already sell abroad. At Mirgor, a renowned supplier to the auto parts industry, which is also known for manufacturing Samsung cell phones through Iatec, one of the companies that make up the group, they are already studying how to enter this market.
“We have been preparing for this moment for 5 years, which will be inevitable. In fact, we have more than 170 R&D engineers who develop electric mobility, electronic mobility modules and infotainment systems for the industry, as is the case with Toyota. We hope that this productive matrix towards the electric and hybrid car will change by 2025. Our strategy is based on being prepared to be a regional supplier of complex electronics within this industry”, enthuses José Luis Alonso, CEO of Mirgor.
hybrids
The driving experience of an electric car is different since the transmission force of the motor is direct. You feel a sensation of instant acceleration like in high-end combustion cars. An electric car has 10 times fewer parts than a traditional one and that implies far fewer problems when it comes to maintenance. There is no water and oil to load.
At Nissan they launched the ePedal, it is a technology where you brake with the same accelerator pedal. In this way the brake pedal is not used except on rare occasions. In addition, the more the ePedal is used, the more the battery is recharged, which transforms that movement of the inertial change that occurs during braking into energy. “That’s why we say that electric cars behave the other way around than traditional ones: they have better performance in terms of consumption in cities than on the roads,” explains Chris Reed.
The lack of charging points leaves room for hybrid cars. These are vehicles that offer a totally electric experience but that they use gasoline only to charge the batteries. In this way, autonomy is gained since traditional charging stations are reused. In the case of Nissan, the bet goes through ePower, a technology that will be brought to the region next year.
Beyond performance and costs, electric cars are designed for the agenda of centennials. They want products and services that give them the ability to build a sustainable world. If the promises are kept, after more than a hundred years the skies will be blue again. Centennials do not want anything more than just a good breath of clean air to win that daily race that is not found on the roads but within oneself: that of being better people.
@pablowahnon
by Pablo Wahnon
