I’m starting to write this article, in Barcelona, at the end of a trip whose purpose was to test the Volvo EX30 model by journalists from Romania and beyond. I’m sitting on one of the seats of this model, exposed in the so-called Volvo Lounge, and I’m writing on the phone, after an intensive photo session made with the same device with which I asked Chat GPT various things.
Considering this context, I sit and wonder if in 2007 when Steve Jobs introduced the world to the first iPhone, did anyone think that the number of actions that I have just narrated above, could be achieved with the help of an iPhone, 15 years later.
If I look at electrification in the automotive industry from this angle, I begin to understand better why my colleagues at Volvo say about the EX30 that it is one of the most important models launched in recent years by the company we work for.
Okay, now I want to try to get rid of the bias resulting from my relationship with Volvo, because I want to treat the subject as objectively as possible.
I am an automotive engineer, which on the one hand makes me understand a little more in detail, how cars with a combustion engine, hybrid or 100% electric, are designed, manufactured, and used in order to be out of use at some point. From this purely engineering perspective, for the mobility of millions of people, as a technical solution, the 100% electric car is by far the simplest concept.
I’m an engineer but I’m also an entrepreneur, so the next question I ask is related to the economic viability of electric cars. And in this chapter, I do not propose to discuss the prices paid by customers for today’s electric cars, but rather the elements that influence these prices. The engineer above told us that the technical solution is the simplest, which means that the number of materials and components that go into an electric car is smaller than the corresponding number of a car with a combustion engine. Simply put, we have less stuff to buy to make the electric car, so it must be cheaper. Not quite, not exactly.
The automobile industry, after the Second World War, developed at a sustained pace. According to statisticdata.org, in 1950 around 10 million cars were produced per year, in 1970 almost 30 million were produced, in 1990 almost 50 million were produced to reach almost 100 million cars in 2017 produced per year. In short, in the last 70 years, production has increased 10-fold, with half of this increase occurring in the last 30 years. Obviously, within this growth process, a lot of supply lines along with entire industries have been developed and streamlined, so that the cost of the large number of auto components dedicated to the classic solution is as low as possible.
And what’s the deal after all? Aren’t electric cars still cars with 4 wheels? How are they so different? In short, the differentiating element is the one that turns the calculations upside down today, namely the battery pack. First, the technology of these batteries currently fails to fully satisfy the requirements of applications in the automotive industry, in English, with a gas tank filled in 2 minutes you go on average 500-700 km outside the city in any season, while with a battery charged at a fast-charge station in 30 minutes, you go between 300 and 400 km outside the city. Even so, technology is evolving and in a short time, with great certainty, batteries will match and maybe even surpass the performance of gasoline engines.
To achieve this technological leap, however, we come to the major challenge number 2, namely the raw material required for the construction of these batteries. I admit that until this moment I have not been able to separate the coherent information from the flawed, to answer only one question: if tomorrow everyone buys an electric car, do we have what we need to build so many batteries?
Today, the relatively high cost of batteries is due to these two elements: the research costs needed to improve the technology alongside the costs needed to develop the industry that would supply raw materials for batteries. Once these challenges are solved step by step, the costs will decrease and the simple technical solution will be able to reach its true potential, providing mobility without burning fossil fuels for the entire planet.
Many good things can come with this change. The population of the globe could begin to discuss pollution more seriously in general, deriving this concept of electrification in other areas as well. Now if we are still panicking about what happens to electric car batteries after they reach the end of their life, maybe people are starting to think about the fate of other products that they use and at some point, are thrown away, the same principle applies everywhere, even for cars with combustion engines.
Furthermore, there are voices that say that electric cars pollute because the electricity used is obtained through polluting processes. Very good observation, and so is the energy with which you turn on your light bulb in the bedroom, but so far no one has made a fuss about it. It is very good that it is happening now, all these things can lead to a transition to renewable energy.
Without realizing it, I closed the analysis on economic criteria and moved on to the most important criterion, the human cultural criterion. From an economic perspective, the situation may not be rosy today, but science can most likely solve the technical-economic problem through research and patience. However, the continuation of the research depends on the last and most important criterion, the human cultural criterion, which translates into the question: does the market demand our electric cars?
People are generally resistant to any kind of change. Change creates discomfort, an emotion, which even at the ideological level is immediately justified by some kind of reasoning. That is why we see people everywhere against everything new. That’s why in 2007 when Steve Jobs launched the iPhone, many people pointed the finger at him, including even the CEO of Microsoft at the time who declared that no one would buy such an expensive phone. Surely there were a lot of people who agreed with him. But somehow, in about 15 years, the iPhone is the most successful product in human history, and now I don’t understand why it’s so expensive either.
Returning to the electric car, the Volvo EX30, at the moment it is an extremely important model for Volvo because it addresses a certain type of application, urban life, offering a lot of benefits worth of a premium product at an affordable cost. Even today, in the city, the Volvo EX30 electric car beats the petrol city car in any position. Now I can already hear the most resistant to change screaming: and where do we charge it if we live at the block? I understand this question. I’m in the block too. I drove an electric car for two months. I have never had a battery below 40%. Guess what, when I looked for charging stations I always found one very close. And guess what, I don’t drive 1000 km a week to need to charge daily. I didn’t understand these two subjects before I had an electric car in my hands. I’m not talking about those who stay at home and have solar panels installed, they already understand how things are.
But even so, I for one want this electrical revolution to follow the example given by the iPhone and in general by smartphones, devices that have managed to offer people around the world many benefits. If indeed the adoption of electric cars takes place in the next decades, the positive effects will certainly be felt in other areas, which we can only enjoy.
About the EX30, I wouldn’t necessarily want to talk too much myself, of course, I’m only going to say good things, so I invite you to go to this link and also if you’re curious, make a test drive request and come drive it. For me, it’s one of the most successful cars that Volvo has managed to make, especially given the price. As an engineer once told me during an internship at Renault Technologie Roumanie, making a premium car as an engineer is quite simple because you have the resources at your disposal, but making an affordable car is much more complicated because you don’t have as many resources. Well, I think that the Volvo EX30 will catch on very well in the Romanian market because it is a premium car made accessible by a team of very smart engineers.
