Mumbai Nagpur Super
Highway
--------------------------------------
[ A ]
Times of India ( 02 July ) carries following news :
SALIENT
POINTS :
* MSEDCL plans to set up 50 e-charging stations , one every 35 km along the 820 km
Mumbai Nagpur route ( on the existing route )
* When Mumbai Nagpur Super
Highway comes up , we could have a station every
25 km ,
said an official
* AC Chargers
take 5 – 6 hours to charge (
electric car battery ) and is economical
* DC Chargers
take 30 – 45 minutes to charge but is costly
* A Mahindra e20
takes 7 hours to charge from zero to full at a
slow point and 1.5 hours
at a fast point .
* A fully charged car can go up to 120 km
* An MSEDCL official said :
“ The Mumbai Nagpur highway (
existing ) handles 30,000 to 40,000 passenger cars
DAILY and hence,
setting up charging stations there would be viable for us. We only
need to set up DC
charging points that are faster and this will reduce infrastructure
costs “
[ B ]
WHAT ABOUT
CHARGING COST ?
For example, the
Mahindra Verito gives a mileage of 15 km / litre .
At Rs 75 per liter of
Petrol, the car would need 4 litres to cover 60 kms for a total cost of Rs 300
for the trip.
The Mahindra e2o would need 10 units of power for a full charge of 100 km. At Rs 4 a unit that would be Rs 40.
So there you go, a person driving an EV spends less that Rs 30 to cover 60kms while a gas powered car would really drill a hole in the wallet. On the other hand, if you install Solar Panels, you can run your car on the power of the sun for free.
[
C ]
IMPLICATIONS
ON EXISTING HIGHWAY :
# FOR AN ELECTRIC
CAR
Mumbai Nagpur ( existing ) highway is 820 km long
With a “ range “ of 120 km , an electric car would
need to recharge 8 times ( to be on the safer
side )
So total charging cost could be Rs 320 ( Rs 40 / charge * 8 charges )
Not bad at all
But what about the “ time to travel “ , using an
electric car ?
* Charging
time > 40 hours ( 8 halts @ 5 hours /
charge for that economical AC
charging )
* Running
time > 12
hours ( if the average
speed of the car is 70 km per hour )
* Lunch
–Dinner > 8
hours
* Sleeping Time >
NIL (
just take a nap while battery is charging ! )
* Total
> 60 hours
# FOR A PETROL CAR
Installing Battery Charging Stations along the
existing highway , won’t make any difference to the Petrol cars
[ D ]
IMPLICATIONS
ON PLANNED SUPER HIGHWAY :
# FOR AN ELECTRIC CAR
Now the planned Mumbai Nagpur Super Highway is going
to be 705 km
So it will take one LESS halt for charging ( ie only 7
halts , thereby saving 5 hours )
So you will be on the road for ( say ) 55 hours instead
of 60 hours
But , you will need to pay a toll of Rs 2.5 per km ( total of Rs 1762 / - )
So , for an electric
car , the cost will be as follows :
* Toll Cost
=
Rs 1762
* Charging Cost
=
Rs 280 ( 40*7 )
* Total
Cost
=
Rs 2042
Now, even if the cost is “ bearable “ , who would want
to sit behind wheel for 55 hours ?
# FOR A PETROL CAR
Time can be close to :
* For driving………………. 10 hours ( @ 70
km per hour )
* Filling Petrol……………. 0.2
hours ( for one halt )
* Lunch break……………. 1.0 hours
* Total time…………………10.5 hours [
manageable ]
But when it comes to cost
, things look down !
* Petrol Cost………………… Rs 4,900 /- [ @
Rs 70 / litre and car giving 10 km per litre ]
* Toll Charges…………….. Rs 1,762
* Total Cost……………………Rs 6,662 / - [
Unbearable ? ]
[ E ]
Observations :
* On the existing
highway, no one will want to drive an Electric Car for 60 hours !
* Setting up those battery charging stations
will be a total waste of scarce funds
Will those 30,000 / 40,000 Petrol Cars which are
currently plying on EXISTING highway ( 820 km ) , switch over to SUPER HIGHWAY
( 705 km ) , so that driving time gets reduced from 12 hours to 10.5
hours ?
Against saving in Petrol cost ( 820 km vs 705 km / say
, Rs 750 / - ) , they would have to fork out Rs 1,762 by way of TOLL charges !
I seriously doubt !
[ F ]
CAN
THIS SITUATION CHANGE IN FUTURE ?
Yes – if :
# Lithium-ion Batteries can be charges in 5 MINUTES ( instead of 5 hours )
This may come about
when “ fast charging technologies “ under
development by
following companies ,
gets launched :
ABB
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/we-have-fast-chargers-come-up-
with-better-batteries-abb-to-manufacturers/article24186896.ece ]
-----------------------------------------
# Ashok Leyland launches Metal Air Batteries in collaboration with Israeli firm
--------------------------------------------
# Indian manufacturers of Electric
Cars move away from the current design and
move onto :
“ Electric Cars whose Solar
Panel covered roof continuously charges
a small
Lithium-ion
battery as long as the car roof is exposed to Sun . If at all any
charging is
required , it can be done with a 220 v domestic outlet ( available at
dozens of
commercial establishments , along the highway “
No need for
dedicated Battery Charging Stations !
ISRO has
demonstrated this technology ( in May 2017 ) and licensed it to Indian Oil
technology to
Indian Car Manufacturers
-------------------------------------------
# If Maharashtra Govt can dream of
Hyperloop , why not dare to embed Solar Panel
into this Super Highway and
pay a “ Reverse Toll “ to electric cars
, as explained
below ?
REFERENCES :
* https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2018/05/roof-top-solar-better-alternative.html ]
* https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2018/01/ashok-leyland-is-not-waiting.html
04 July 2018
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