This week, we talk transportation. For the next few minutes, let’s learn about how clean energy is going to change the way we travel. In short, today’s topic is bijlee, sadak and paani.
In 2006, I remember watching a documentary called, ‘Who Killed the Electric Car? — a scathing review of how the United States, media and oil firms joined hands to kill a vehicle that could have ushered in a new age. The first time I sat in a Reva in Bengaluru I remember thinking how amazing the vehicle was. That was in 2004 and since then to 2010... it seemed like the brakes have been applied on electrical cars.
The problems were plenty — the cars didn’t travel far enough, charging efficiency was low. Clean energy itself seemed to be offering few alternatives. By 2010, transport running on clean energy had come to grinding halt.
Today, however, the world’s a different place and electric cars are back and more powerful than ever. The credit lands close to the feet of Elon Musk, the founder of PayPal, SpaceX and Tesla motors. Musk didn’t have the smoothest of starts and strangely enough it was the 2008 automotive industry crisis that really aided him in getting support.
Because when Barack Obama bailed out General Motors, he made sure car companies’ focus was on the environment and with GM, Ford and Nissan in the race for electric cars Musk’s Tesla strode forward confidently. So strong is the race now that Bloomberg is calling the 2020s the decade of the electric car.
But things seemed to be going perfectly well for the electric car, until Toyota did the unthinkable. It launched the Toyota Mirai — the world’s first commercially-available Hydrogen-powered vehicle, in 2014. But in November last, Musk called Hydrogen cells ‘Silly’. His claim was that power efficiency wasn’t being maintained. Hydrogen comes from electrolysis and requires a lot of electricity to split water.
This is akin to the Chocolate Wars between Hershey’s and Mars. We’re entering a new kind of economic cold war between clean energy transportation companies — electricity vs hydrogen fuel cells. Hydrogen is backed by Toyota, Hyundai and Honda while electric cars are being supported by BMW, Tesla and GM. But no matter who loses, the world is set to win. So pick your side... what do you want on your sadak? Bijlee or paani?
