How green transport can work in Nigeria, Africa —Automobile expert

Much advancement has come the way of electric vehicles.Recent developments have seen the release of electric SUVs. Electric cars have seen greater adoption by the public particularly in developed countries as the awareness increases on the impact of vehicular emission from combustion engines on the environment. However, an automobile expert and Managing Director of Ednutalo Automotive services, Tunde Onakoya, has advised that Nigerians and Africans need not be quick to join the electric vehicles bandwagon as it is happening in the West. He says that creating mass transit systems powered by renewable energy is a better option for the people of this region and their environment.

Recent developments in electric vehicles

Electric vehicles used to small cars with low torque. Not anymore. There are now powerful SUVs that are battery powered.

German car maker, Audi, on September 3, 2018, announced that it has commenced mass production of its first all-electric SUV, e-tron.

The e-tron has a range of 248 miles (about 400 km), the Audi e-tron can go from 0 to 62 mph (100 km/h) in less than six seconds. In addition, the SUV just needs a quick 30-minute charge to reach 80 per cent, with a capacity of up to 150 kW.

Audi plans to start delivering the e-tron to US customers early 2019.

Jaguar also has its upcoming I-Pace SUV that is electricity powered.

Mercedes-Benz unveiled its first all-electric SUV on September 4, 2018. The 2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC is an all-wheel drive with 402 horsepower. The crossover SUV, which is the company’s first vehicle under the new EQ technology brand has a range of up to 200 miles (about 320 km) when its 80 kWh battery is fully charged.

Challenging a market that dominated by Tesla, other car makers such as General Motors, Ford, BMW and German luxury giants BMW and Porsche are spending billions of dollars to develop new electric vehicles, betting that demand will continue to grow.

Seeking a transition

EV100 is a global initiative led by international NGO, The Climate Group. The group launched the initiative over a year ago and it currently has 20 member companies, several of which are from developing countries such as India and China. Not yet having any members from Africa, the group told Nigerian Tribune that it “would be more than pleased to welcome any African businesses wanting to transition their fleet to electric vehicles into EV100.”

According to the Climate Group, EV100 as a global platform, has an international reach that provides opportunities for companies based in countries which do not yet have national policies on electric vehicles or strong growth in the sector to share experiences and knowledge with those in more developed markets. It says that “the more companies from different regions commit to the electric vehicle transition through EV100, the more we can grow market demand for electric transport in those regions too.”

Sandra Roling, Head of EV100, The Climate Group: “Companies have a huge opportunity to lead on emissions cuts from road transport. By committing to transition their fleets to electric vehicles, installing charging infrastructure, and influencing their staff and customers to get involved, they send out an important demand signal to the market that can bring about a faster roll out of EVs at affordable prices.

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“As well as helping to address climate change and reduce dangerous air pollution, switching to electric vehicles is good for business. Joining EV100 enables companies to demonstrate their climate leadership on a global scale, with access to expertise and best practice exchange with peers around the world.” Yes, they are reducing our consumption at home of fuel from coal, petrol and so on. But what does it take to manufacture a solar panel and the battery? How much of environmental impact does it have?

Environmental impact from a different perspective

Mr Onakoya presented another perspective to environmental impact, saying that it is not just the impact on the use of electric vehicles on the roads, the manufacturing process should be considered also.

“How much of environmental degradation takes places during the process of mining the precious metal called lithium that is used in batteries? How much of environmental destruction takes place in the process of manufacturing the battery and the parts of an electric vehicle? There is a subject matter to that,” he pointed out.

“The best way people can conserve energy and reduce emission in the world actually is by using whatever they have right now for as long as possible an maintain it well. Because then there will be less production of new cars, which automatically reduces the carbon footprint of the automotive industry, compared to fuel. Fuel is just one part, let’s go back to the manufacturing process.”

Onakoya noted that considering the environmental impact of such manufacturing processes, it would be better to receive power from wind turbines or other clean energy through the national grid, rather than “for each person to have solar panels and batteries that we don’t even know how to dispose (at their end of life).”

He asked, “How much of toxic waste will we have in 10 years if each of us use solar panels?”

How the transition should take place

For electric vehicles to be deployed in Africa on an individual basis is not the ideal is not ideal. According to Onakoya, the real cost savings on the environment only occurs when renewables are deployed to mass transit.

“When you begin to save cost significantly is when you begin to use electric vehicles for mass transit.

He said if everyone has to have their own electric vehicle, “more cars will have to be produced, and that means more mining will take place and more environmental damage, which is on a larger scale than you can wreak in a lifetime driving a car.”

He said far greater environmental pollution is involved in the well-to-wheel process which speaks of the process of extracting crude oil from an oil well, refining it which usually involves flaring, and placing it in a vehicle (obviously with wheels), compared to the pollution Tank-to-wheel process, which speaks of fuel combustion from a car tank to its engine before it moves.

The automobile expert argued that in a similar scenario happens with electric vehicle manufacturing. “The only difference is we are not burning petrol. Why should we manufacture an electric vehicle with all those gadgets to ferry one person around, when we can do mass transit and rail systems which reduces production cycle?”