- Olga Kokorina
- Translated by Olga Apetenok
- Ru Fr
What will we drive in the future?
‘Classic’ hybrids appeared in the last century. Back then, in all modesty, the Japanese giant Toyota called its brainchild Prius ‘original’. In 1997, the manufacturer started producing the first production model, equipped with an electric motor and batteries, but back then the internal combustion engine, familiar to mankind, played first violin, and the electric traction settled for the role of backing vocals. A purely electric car was introduced to the people relatively recently, although the first samples appeared before petrol engines, and if it were not for the profitability of the oil industry, the automotive industry and the world economy would have followed a completely different path. For a long time, everything was limited to special equipment such as golf carts or forklifts.
Evolution: Petrol will be phased out
The idea of quiet, clean and easily renewable electric traction looks noble and even created such a funny variation as plug-in hybrids that are equipped with internal combustion engines not for driving, but for charging the battery. This looks like a temporary compromise until the batteries are perfect enough. However, the depletion of resources, the requirements of environmentalists and the improvement of batteries, the main problems of which were high weight and low capacity, nevertheless changed the situation. In order not to lag behind the progress and not to lose customers, car manufacturers began to produce an ever wider range of electric vehicles. Charging stations followed. Thus, Israel’s Energy Ministry and Afcon have increased the modest number of electric charging stations (ECSs) by 2,560 during 2020, and the process continues.
Therefore, a complete transition to electric power is only a matter of the future. ICEs that complicate the design pollute the air and require expensive fuel have already begun to become a thing of the past. Even the most efficient hybrid requires fuel, a liter of which costs more than $ 1.5 in Israel, and one liter for such a car will suffice for about 20 km, which means that the cost of 1 km will be about 8 cents. One kilowatt-hour costs 16 cents, and it is enough for 7 km. It is easy to calculate that the cost of one kilometer is just over 2 cents, that is, an electric car is four times more profitable than a hybrid. A couple more numbers: charging Renault Zoe costs 23-25 shekels and provides a driving range of 250 km.
What can we expect?
From a thousand units in 2013, the ‘livestock’ of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids has grown to 5 thousand at the beginning of 2020. In the past year, the automotive industry offered an expanded range of electric vehicle available for sale, which previously consisted of the Renault Zoe, Nissan Leaf, Audi e-tron, BMW i3, Hyundai ioniq and Jaguar E-Pace. The newcomers are the compact Opel Corsa-e, the stylish hatchback Peugeot 208e, the Chinese GAC GE-3 SUV, the legendary Mini Cooper SE, the luxurious Mercedes EQC, etc. In the coming year, other well-known automakers (Tesla, Lexus, Geely, etc.) are going to present their creations to the world. Tesla is also building its own network of charging stations in the country. These serious investments speak volumes.
By 2024, the cost of making electric cars will be equal to that of internal combustion engine cars. The tax rate also affects the price of a car for the consumer. The transition to electric vehicles can be accelerated by the refusal of the tax, now it is 10% in Israel (83% for petrol cars, 30% for hybrid cars, 20% for plug-in cars) and will remain at this level until 2022 inclusive. Electric cars can become more attractive by providing their owners with free parking and charging (following the example of the leader in this field, Norway).
Charging is the weak point of electric cars. Can you only charge on the go? Yes, if you use the technology of electromagnetic induction. The two-kilometer section from the Tel Aviv railway station to the Klatzkin stop has become the first road to charge an electric car (opened in August 2020), built by the Israeli company ElectReon Wireless in conjunction with the municipality and Dan Bus Company. The technology is as follows: a contact network of copper induction coils is laid under the roadbed, powered by the city’s power plant. According to ElectReon officials, the cost of a similar remodeling of Tel Aviv’s main roads is about $ 150 million. The next experimental sites are in Sweden (Gotland Island) and Germany (Karlsruhe). Such roads can be used by vehicles equipped with receivers for transmitting energy to the battery while driving.
Today you can charge an electric car in about 20 minutes, next year there will be cars that can be charged in 15 minutes, and within 5 years there will be cars that can be charged in 5 minutes.
Another way to increase a driving range is by using solar panels. Apollo Power, again a domestic company, for the first time was able to bring the efficiency of solar energy processing to 12%. And the flexibility of the panels allows them to be pasted over the body of an already finished car. Unsurprisingly, this technology has led to the collaboration with the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance.
Another cool Israeli technology is fast charging, which is being developed by Chakratec. It is based on magnetic bearings to avoid energy loss due to friction. Fast charging will cost 2-3 times more than home charging, while increasing the power of stations and upgrading them costs money. But the Chakratec stations are also designed for a 20-year service. Skoda, which is also planning to enter the electric car market, has become a partner of the company. ‘Today you can charge an electric car in about 20 minutes, next year there will be cars that can be charged in 15 minutes, and within 5 years there will be cars that can be charged in 5 minutes. It is the existence of affordable fast charging stations that is the key in encouraging people to switch to electric vehicles, ” says Ilan Ben David, CEO of Chakratec.
When will the future arrive?
Soon! The market share of electric vehicles in Israel is expected to reach 16% in 2025, 51% in 2030. All consumers will be provided with charging terminals, for which the Samuel Neumann Institute has developed a charging infrastructure development plan. The implementation of the plan will be overseen by the Ministry of Energy.
Let’s use Opel’s new Corsa-e hatchback, which went on sale in Israel in November, as an example of an electric car. A powerful electric motor with 136 hp can accelerate to 100 km in only 8.1 seconds. The battery has a capacity of 50 kWh and provides up to 335 km of driving range. It takes 24 hours to charge the car from a regular home outlet and 7.5 hours to charge from a 32 amp terminal. You only have half an hour? You will have to use the DC 100 kWh fast charging station, which will charge the battery up to 80% capacity in 30 minutes. The Corsa has a 4-year warranty or 120 thousand km of driving range, with a battery warranty for 8 years or 160 thousand km. The price of the car is 147,990 shekels (as of November 2020).
In Israel, technologies are developing rapidly, and this will allow the country to be one of the first in the world to switch to electric vehicles, the potential of which has been so highly appreciated by domestic scientists and engineers.