Many of you must have watched Elon Musk in some videos or on Twitter making a mockery of the idea of Hydrogen gas or Hydrogen cars. Elon Musk manufactures cars that are powered by electricity and it is always claimed with regards to that electric cars are highly environmentally friendly. And Ev's carbon footprint is almost negligible when compared to the carbon footprint of an IC Engine based vehicle.

But this fact is only partially true because if we talk about the country from where Elon Musk got his start, then only 20% of the total electricity of the US is produced using Renewable Resources. Electric cars are bounded with several other problems too. Even today, the charging time required by an EV is very high due to this, people have to face several problems, EV owners also suffer from range anxiety due to the extremely low energy density of lithium-ion batteries in comparison to the fuels like Petrol and Diesel. Humans still have not manufactured any practical Electric Plane and due to these complications in the battery of an EV. Many people believe that Hydrogen is the fuel of the future.

Shri Nitin Gadkari About Hydrogen

Nitin Gadkari is the current Minister of Road Transport and Highways, and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises in the Government of India. He has expressed support for the use of hydrogen fuel cell technology in transportation, particularly in the form of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

In a recent speech, Gadkari emphasized the potential for hydrogen fuel cell technology to play a major role in the future of transportation in India, citing its clean energy production and the potential to reduce India's dependence on imported fossil fuels. He also noted the potential for the development of a domestic hydrogen fuel cell industry in India, which could create new job opportunities and stimulate economic growth.

Delighted to launch the world's most advanced technology - developed Green Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV) Toyota Mirai along with Union Minister Shri @HardeepSPuri ji, Union Minister Shri @RajKSinghIndia ji,... pic.twitter.com/teu8pm1l57

— Nitin Gadkari (@nitin_gadkari) March 16, 2022

Gadkari has also expressed support for the development of a hydrogen fuel infrastructure in India, including the production, distribution, and storage of hydrogen fuel. This would be necessary to support the widespread adoption of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in the country.

India is soon going to become the market leader of the whole world concerning the export of Green Hydrogen. Shri Nitin Gadkari is not the lone person with such ambitions for Green Hydrogen, but brands like Toyota, Honda, and Hyundai began their Research and Development R&D for Hydrogen fuel cell-based vehicles in the very early 2000s. Some cars are even available in their portfolio if we get specific to Toyota. Then Toyota already invested around a Billion Dollars in the Research and Development of Hydrogen Cars.

History of Hydrogen and Hydrogen Car

Toyota Mirai is the largest-selling Hydrogen fuel-based car in the whole world. Since 2014 till date, only 18,000 units of this car have been sold by Toyota. Which is a ridiculously small number. Therefore we would try to understand why successful and massive brands like Toyota are manufacturing Hydrogen based cars that are numb to the people. Why does Elon Musk think that the people thinking about Hydrogen are stupid? and we should also try to understand. To what extent Elon Musk is wrong and Shri Nitin Gadkari right. 

Hydrogen gas is an extremely flammable gas many of you might remember, how an aircraft like Hindenburg was destroyed due to this horrible gas. And many people lost their lives in this incident Hydrogen is the most abundant element in this whole universe. 70% of the mass of the whole universe is composed of only Hydrogen. But when we enter the earth here only 0.1% of the hydrogen is available in its pure form. Even after the negligible availability of pure Hydrogen. 

But Hydrogen can be extracted by various methods other than this such as from water, you must be knowing the fact that water is made up of two atoms of Hydrogen and one atom of oxygen due to this Hydrogen can be extracted from water. There are several other methods too through which hydrogen can be extracted. But we will refer to those further. But before it, we should understand

Why Hydrogen Should be used in Cars?

To understand that we should monitor Toyota because Toyota has invested a considerable amount of money to make this possible. During the early 90s, global automakers were looking for alternative energy resources which can be used as a source of energy for vehicles. Global Warming was not a hot topic back at that time and global automakers were aware of the fact that fossil fuel-based vehicles can not be extinct shortly. 

But soon came the day and that's why global automakers were preparing in advance. At that time no one was looking at Lithium-ion batteries as those are seen today. No one thought of driving cars with Lithium-ion batteries. Because Lithium-ion batteries were highly ineffective during that time no development was done for the evolution of batteries that's why Toyota decided to invest in Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technology. A hydrogen Fuel Cell is used to generate electricity from hydrogen. The generated electricity is fed to the Electric Motors and the vehicles start moving.

Working of Fuel Cell in FCEV

Hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) use a fuel cell to convert hydrogen gas into electricity to power the vehicle. The fuel cell consists of two electrodes, a cathode, and an anode, separated by a membrane. Hydrogen gas is supplied to the anode, where it is separated into protons and electrons. The protons pass through the membrane and combine with oxygen at the cathode to form water, while the electrons flow through an external circuit to power the vehicle.

If I try to explain to you the basic functionality of a hydrogen fuel cell in a lucid manner. Then, a hydrogen fuel cell is composed of an anode, cathode, electrolyte membrane, and a suitable catalyst. Highly pressurized Hydrogen gas is filled in the anode and oxygen gas is filled in the cathode, filled hydrogen anode which cannot cross the electrolyte membrane. Because electrolytes facilitate the passage of positive ions only. 

While hydrogen is a neutral atom consisting of 1 electron and 1 proton. To further initiate the energy production process a suitable catalyst is used. A catalyst separates the electron and proton of the Hydrogen gas And these protons flow to the cathode through the electrolyte. Electrons stay in the anode due to their negative charge. That's why the anode is connected to the cathode through a conductive wire this wire enables the passage of electrons. 

This flow of electrons through the wire is termed the electric current which drives the motor of the vehicle. The by-product obtained after this process is H2O which is water. This means Hydrogen Fuell Cell Vehicles do not generate any carbon emissions. This process looks simpler if seen like this, due to this reason the World's first Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle, FCEV was introduced in the year 1966. But this vehicle could not be used as any practical Vehicle.

Why is it tough to launch FCEV in the market?

Because it is a lot tougher than expected to drive any vehicle through hydrogen practically and therefore it took more than 20 years for a brand like Toyota to introduce its first Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle. Toyota's first Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle, Toyota Mirai was launched in the year 2014. Toyota Mirai was looked at as the most technologically advanced car when it was launched, an electric car has very few components when compared to an IC Engine car. Due to this EVs are considered less complicated. But if we look at Mirai, which is an FCEV. Then Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle is more complex than any type of vehicle. But Toyota developed this FCEV beautifully. 

Some advantages were clearly visible in Toyota's Mirai, which are absent in the Electric Vehicles:

The first one is no range anxiety Hydrogen can be filled in the tanks of any vehicle in a jiffy like any IC Engine based vehicle which is not possible in EVs.

Toyota Mirai can be used to travel up to 600 KM upon getting its tank full in one go and to further increase the travel range of the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle.

There is no need of increasing the battery cells as done in Electric Vehicles. Due to this, Hydrogen Fuel Cell vehicles stay light in weight.

Due to all these advantages present in Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles, Toyota Mirai was a big flop at the time. From the time Mirai was launched, Toyota has only sold 18000 units of this car.

If we compare the sales of Mirai with any EV model of Tesla. Then the monthly sale of any Tesla car is more than the whole career sale of the Toyota Mirai. A question must arise in your mind if HFCV Technology is so advantageous. 

Then why Hydrogen cars are getting failed?

The answer lies within the practical issues present in the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle. There are around 35,000 EV charging stations in the United Kingdom and only 15 Hydrogen Fuel cell pumps or fuelling stations are present in the whole United Kingdom the hydrogen gas available today is highly expensive. 

For instance, the cost of green hydrogen in the US Ranges between INR 400-600 per Kg, and thus the average cost of running a Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle is 10 times more than an EV and even more than the average cost of running a Petrol based vehicle. This Hydrogen is so expensive because this is green hydrogen as told you earlier. The pure form of Hydrogen is almost negligible in our environment thus we need to extract the hydrogen through several methods. 

There are many processes and sources involved in the extraction of hydrogen. All the different extraction processes of hydrogen are denoted by different colors and when all the different colors are combined together. The resultant is termed a Hydrogen Rainbow. 

If we try to understand this Hydrogen Rainbow:

Black Hydrogen is generated after the burning of coal or other fossil fuels. This generates huge carbon emissions.

Grey Hydrogen is extracted from Methane gas through Steam Methane Reforming and this process also generates a lot of carbon emissions. 

Blue Hydrogen is also extracted from Methane Gas. But here 50% of the carbon emissions are trapped. The final form of Hydrogen in the Hydrogen Rainbow is Green Hydrogen. 

The Green Hydrogen extraction process doesn't produce any harmful carbon emissions. Green Hydrogen is the hydrogen extracted from water through the process of electrolysis. Electric current is passed in water in this process due to which, the atoms of Hydrogen And Oxygen separate from each other. And then this hydrogen can be used in Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles. And several other applications too. It seems very fascinating after listening. But a very big problem is also associated with this Green Hydrogen.

Why Green Hydrogen is so expensive than Fossil Fuels?

The hydrogen produced after the process of electrolysis utilizes electricity which must be generated from renewable resources like Solar Energy, Wind Energy, etc. If we use the electricity produced by coal. Then hydrogen can never become Green in this way, there could be no difference between Grey Hydrogen and Green Hydrogen. Also, Grey Hydrogen is five times cheaper than Green Hydrogen. The biggest problem with Green Hydrogen is that a very small portion of the total electricity of the whole world is generated through renewable resources. 

If we assume that all the electricity produced in the future will be generated from renewable resources still, vehicles running on Green Hydrogen have a major issue. Due to this, Battery Electric Vehicles are superior to any FCEV and the issue of Hydrogen Cars is highly inefficient.

If we use the Hydrogen produced from Renewable Resources in our vehicles then the efficiency of such Vehicles is only around 33%. If we observe the efficiency of any Battery Electric Vehicle then it is 77%. Which is even more than any ICE Engine based vehicle. 

The reason behind the low efficiency of FCEV is the usage of electricity for the production of Hydrogen itself. Then the generated hydrogen is transported in several ways And when this hydrogen gas is filled in the tanks of the vehicles. This hydrogen is again converted into electricity which consumes furthermore energy. This electricity drives the motors of any vehicle and some energy is also lost as heat in the motors, On the other hand, Electricity is directly fed into the Battery Electric Vehicles and drives the motors. Due to this reason, Hydrogen has got no respect in front of Elon Musk. But it is not at all like if Hydrogen gas is not beneficial for running vehicles then it is totally a waste element. 

Benefits of Hydrogen Fuel Cells in Commercial Vehicles!

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technology is extremely beneficial in Buses, Trucks, and Ships. Hydrogen gas can be used to travel extremely long distances without wasting any time in charging your vehicle if we look at Trucks only. Since the battery pack of any truck must be huge in comparison to any car. Then the required charging time for that battery pack would also be huge. Lithium-ion batteries also make any vehicle bulkier whereas hydrogen gas can also solve this problem.

Is Hydrogen-powered Aircraft possible?

Hydrogen is going to be very useful in aircraft in the coming future. There is no surety after Electric Planes shortly. But Airbus has announced that they will introduce Hydrogen Planes by the year 2035. Hydrogen is chosen over batteries in planes due to its high energy density. These were some of the facts, Elon Musk considers hydrogen a stupid gas. But on the other side, Shri Nitin Gadkari wants to make India a global leader in the production of Green Hydrogen.

Big players like the Adani Group, Reliance, and L&T have started marching toward Green Hydrogen. Shri Nitin Gadkari wants hydrogen production through biowaste and sewage water apart from electrolysis. Here a chemical reaction would be used for the production of hydrogen gas.

Overall, it seems that Nitin Gadkari views hydrogen fuel cell technology as a promising alternative to traditional fossil fuels for transportation, and is actively working to promote its development and adoption in India.

What are your thoughts about hydrogen, mention below in the comment section on the production of electricity through hydrogen?

 Recently the Adani group announced that it has entered into a partnership with Total Energies of France to jointly develop the green hydrogen ecosystem. Gautam Adani group will invest 50 billion dollars over the next 10 years on green hydrogen projects.

Adani aims to become the world's most significant Green Hydrogen player with a Green Hydrogen production capacity of one million tonnes per annum before 2030. But Adani group is not the only one to be upbeat about green hydrogen reliance industries is investing rupees 75000 crores over the next three years to build a new clean energy business.

Engineering major Larsen and Turbo (L&T) renewable energy company, Renew Power is among the many private sector companies looking to invest in this space. The list is long and even public sector companies like NTPC, BPCL, and Indian oil corporations have announced their entry into this space.

Green Hydrogen Mission

So what exactly is green hydrogen and why has it caught everyone's attention to understand this let's rewind to independence day August 15, 2021. As PM Modi cited. “We have to make India a global Hub for Green Hydrogen Production and export”.

Video Courtesy: PMO India

The video shared by PMO was the first time green hydrogen and the national hydrogen mission got included in the national narrative of clean energy. 

What is GREEN HYDROGEN?

You may remember reading in school books that HYDROGEN is the most abundant element in the universe but pure or elemental hydrogen is a very scarce resource. It almost always exists in compounds like with oxygen to form h2o or water. Remember reading about electrolysis in chemistry when an electric current is passed through water it splits it into elemental oxygen and hydrogen through electrolysis and if the electricity used for this process comes from a renewable source like wind or solar, what you have is green hydrogen. 

So if you hear other colors attached to hydrogen it only refers to the source of electricity used in the process of electrolysis. 

For instance, if coal is used we get Brown Hydrogen. This hydrogen is a great source of energy because of its high energy content per unit of weight. This is why it is used as rocket fuel.

Green Hydrogen in particular is one of the cleanest sources of energy with close to zero emissions. It can be used in Fuel Cells for cars or in energy-guzzling industries like fertilizers and steel manufacturing. To encourage the green hydrogen industry, the government on February 17 announced the first part of the national green hydrogen policy. 

Among other things to boost the green hydrogen sector in the country, the government said, “it will allow free power transmission to renewable energy units set up by green hydrogen producers and allow power banking facilities for 30 days”, the second round of the policy is expected to announce economic incentives to boost the sector.

Companies that invested in Green Hydrogen

Several Indian companies have invested in green hydrogen technology and projects. And which are Indian Green Hydrogen stocks to invest in. While the companies are gearing up let's take a glimpse  at some of the industry heavyweights who have already announced plans to enter the green hydrogen space:

Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL)

Reliance Industries aims to be a net carbon-neutral company by 2035. It has plans of investing 75000 crore rupees in the clean energy business and green hydrogen will play an integral role in that it has also invested 50 million dollars in U.S.-based energy storage company Ambry. It has also acquired a Norwegian solar equipment maker REC solar holdings and has a 40 stake now in renewable project specialist companies Sterling and Wilson Solar. All this could be support for the green hydrogen business going ahead. Reliance also aims to be one of the largest producers of Blue Hydrogen globally by using petroleum coke.

Video Courtesy: CNBC TV18 

“Efforts are on globally to make green hydrogen the most affordable fuel by bringing down its cost to initially under two dollars per kilogram. India has always set and achieved even more audacious. Impossible goals and I am sure that India can set an even more aggressive target of achieving one dollar per kilogram within a decade. This will make India the first country globally to achieve one dollar per kilogram of hydrogen in one decade, the one-on-one target for green hydrogen”-Mukesh Ambani.

Adani Group in Green Hydrogen

The Adani Group, a leading Indian conglomerate, has announced plans to set up Green Hydrogen production facilities in India, using renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power. Adani Group apart from plans to invest 50 billion dollars over the next 10 years on a green hydrogen project with a total of France. Adani group has also signed a non-binding pact with NASDAQ-listed Ballard power system. To evaluate a joint venture for investment in the commercial production of green hydrogen fuel cells for various mobility and industrial applications in India. Adani Joined hands with Total Energy a French-based company to invest in Green Hydrogen.

Video Courtesy: Adani Group

“Hydrogen is the trigger for the smarter use of other renewables by becoming the long-term transport and distributed storage solution for electricity. It is the key link in the energy transition journey that along with wind and solar will stabilize, decentralized power generation" - Gautam Adani.

Oil India Limited the state-run oil exploration and production company Oil India limited commissioned India's first 99.999 pure green hydrogen plant in Assam in April this year.

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC)

Indian oil corporation the company plans to convert grey hydrogen at its Mathura and Panipat plants into green hydrogen by 2030. The company also has in-principle approval for an investment of rupees 100 crores for setting up a green hydrogen fuel infrastructure unit at Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram as a pilot project. In fact, the Indian oil corporation has tied up with Larsen and Toubro and Renew Power to jointly develop green hydrogen projects in India.

Larsen and Toubro (L&T) 

L&T Green Hydrogen is a subsidiary of Larsen and Toubro (L&T), one of India's leading engineering and construction companies. The subsidiary is focused on the development, production, and distribution of Green Hydrogen in India. It aims to support the Indian Government's National Green Hydrogen Mission 2023 and contribute to the country's goal of achieving energy security and reducing its dependence on fossil fuels.

L&T Green Hydrogen will collaborate with leading companies in the hydrogen sector, it has already signed a pact with Norway-based electrolyzer and technology manufacturing company hydrogen pro, to develop and implement cutting-edge technologies for the production, storage, and transportation of green hydrogen. The subsidiary will also focus on building a skilled workforce and creating a conducive environment for investment in the green hydrogen sector.

In addition to its partnership with hydrogen pro, L&T Green Hydrogen will also explore other opportunities for collaboration with companies in the hydrogen sector, including those in the regions of research and development (R&D), infrastructure development, and policy frameworks.

National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC)

NTPC the state-run power utility backed the country's first hydrogen microgrid project at its Simhadri plant in Andhra Pradesh. The company has also set up India's first green hydrogen fueling station in Ley Ladakh. The green hydrogen revolution could be a big game changer for the world as energy prices continue soaring and energy demand continues to be robust. For India, it could be a sure and clean way to ensure energy security.

Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL)

The state-run company is geared up to create India’s largest green-hydrogen facility over the next 12-14 months. It aims to increase its natural gas business with carbon-free fuel, as investors increasingly focus on environmental, colonial, and governance (ESG) parameters. 

The previous year, GAIL chairman and managing director Manoj Jain said the company launched a global tender to procure an electrolyzer that could deliver 4.5 tons a day of hydrogen. The company started a first-of-its-kind project of blending hydrogen in the natural gas system at Indore, on a pilot basis.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL)

BPCL has teamed with Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) to work on alkaline electrolyzer technology for Green Hydrogen production. The company aims to scale up production of the electrolyzer for commercial use, particularly in refineries.

What are the reasons top Indian Companies invest in Green Hydrogen?

There are several reasons why top Indian companies are investing in green hydrogen:

Environmental concerns: 

Green hydrogen is a clean and renewable energy source that does not produce greenhouse gases or other harmful emissions. This makes it an attractive option for companies looking to reduce their carbon footprint and contribute to the fight against climate change.

Energy security: 

India heavily depends on fossil fuels for its energy needs, and investing in green hydrogen can help the country reduce its reliance on imported fuels.

Economic benefits: 

Green hydrogen can be used in a variety of applications, including power generation, transportation, and manufacturing. This creates economic opportunities for companies that are involved in the production and distribution of green hydrogen.

Government incentives: 

The Indian government has been actively promoting the use of green hydrogen and has implemented various incentives and subsidies to encourage companies to invest in this technology.

Growing market demand: 

As the global demand for clean and renewable energy sources increases, companies that invest in green hydrogen now will be well-positioned to meet this demand in the future.

Many other companies, such as ReNew Power, ACME Group, and JSW Group, are working towards entering the green-hydrogen ecosystem.

National Green Hydrogen Mission Policy in India

In the first quarter of January 2023(4th of January 2023), the Government of India launched the Green Hydrogen Mission and its policy. The National Green Hydrogen mission has been approved by the Cabinet with an initial outlay of Rs. 19,744 crores. 

The mission aims to promote the production and use of green hydrogen in India, a clean and sustainable energy source. The mission will focus on the development of production facilities, storage, and distribution infrastructure for green hydrogen. It will also provide financial and technical support to industries and businesses to adopt green hydrogen technology. 

The mission will also work towards creating a robust regulatory framework for the Green Hydrogen sector, to ensure its safe and efficient usage. Additionally, the mission will also focus on creating a market for Green Hydrogen by developing a comprehensive strategy for its use in various sectors.

This mission is a major step towards India's goal of achieving energy security and reducing its dependence on fossil fuels.

A National Green Hydrogen Mission of India Book, published in January 2023.

In conclusion, the National Green Hydrogen Mission aims to provide a comprehensive action plan for the development and promotion of the Green Hydrogen sector in the country, to support the transition to a sustainable and low-carbon economy.

 Starting from 1989, Land Rover had two different cars which were the Range Rover and Defender. Range Rover is an ultra-luxury SUV. One can have extreme luxury, and extreme features and the price of this car is also expensive so not every person cannot afford this car. The second one is the Defender of this brand. It was an extreme off-roader which was very basic and very bare-born.

One can get this car anywhere and its price was also very decent, and valuable. But the consumers wanted something else, their demand was shifting to something else. They wanted a car with luxury like a Range Rover. Also, one could get the off-roading of Defender. And the price of the vehicle should also be in between these two cars. Land Rover's hands were completely empty, They did not have any such vehicle which could fulfill both demands. But then Land Rover made something new. And that is why, in 1989, Land Rover launched its Discovery, which was a new car of this brand, the body design of a Range Rover. But in this car, you get the engine of Defender. Off-roading capabilities of this car match with Defender. 

The price of this car was perfectly in between Range Rover and Defender this car was a new need of urban consumers. They want a car with good looks. And off-roading should also be good, which can cater to it opening a new dimension for Land Rover and increasing its market penetration even more. And yes, before coming to the Evoque, But after 17 years of this, Land Rover has to face such a situation again in which Land Rover has 4 different series of cars, which is the Freelander a very basic car, you get basic features and you get decent off-roading there is its Defender in which you get extreme off-roading. But you get useless luxury and you can't drive this car to the city. Another is its Discovery in which you get good off-roading. And you get good luxury another is its Range Rover in which you get extreme luxury. And you get extreme performance, but at that time, the demand of the consumers was something else. 

They wanted something else something sexier, a mixture of SUVs and compact cars. It was also because in 2006 the price of crude oil increased significantly. Today it is around $90. It reached like this at that time the price of petrol and diesel at that time improved a lot. So people were not able to afford to drive big SUVs which had a 6.2L V8 engine or a 5.0L V8 engine. The consumers wanted a small SUV that had a small engine but the ground clearance and off-roading capabilities of the car should be of a proper SUV. And if you see the BMW X3 of that time, the Mercedes GLK or Audi Q5. Their demand was increasing a lot Land Rover's hands were empty, and they didn't have any cars in this segment, because the Freelander is a small car but it doesn't have luxuries like X3 or GLK. 

Land Rover didn't lose hope, Land Rover's engineers and designers, started working on a car that was called LRX. It was a concept model and Land Rover's boss wanted that it should be such a car that can be driven well on 5th Avenue street of New York. Which has expensive paint houses and should look good in the mud of the mountains and work well there. It should be such a car which is small in size. But its feel and road presence should be grand and welcoming. It should be such a car that has the off-roading of Land Rover but has the fuel efficiency of a Suzuki a car with which every Land Rover car will be inspired. So there were a lot of burdens on Land Rover's engineers and designers. That is how to make such a perfect car having everything. Good efficiency, good off-roading, good looks. How does that even make any sense?

Journey of  Range Rover EVOQUE

So then after 2 years of hard work after changing its owners, Land Rover showcased its LRX concept at the D-Tron Motor Show, and it was a really very futuristic car in which one can get thin Lights on the front, a very thin grill in front, and a very masculine front Bonnet. Thick wheel arches on the side of 21-inch wheels get a sloping roofline in it and get its body line going up. A very high bumper at the back will make its departure angle cool. You get its roof made up of glasses. Driver-oriented slanting dashboard and sports seats in it Land Rover was not even sure whether to launch this car or not. They only showcased this car so that dealerships and those who are coming to the D-Tron Motor Show, know their viewpoint. To know if Land Rover will launch this car and if there is any market for it. But you know when people would have seen this car, they would have been shocked. They literally started saying we want this Land Rover, we want LRX! Launch the LRX. I think the same feeling would have come in this car at that time. The feeling that we got seeing Hummer EV last year. 

Because when the Hummer EV was launched, It was very shocking. It is a bit advanced car in which you get thick tires. You get very astonishing looks, which can be only seen in sci-fi movies, and the same would've happened with this car. Because there was no such car at that time which would've such a futuristic design. The designers of Land Rover had confirmed that in its concept model and its real-life version, there will not be much difference. It will be almost the same. But it is not so, you will be given good features in the concept model, and then you'll be made a fool. You will get everything perfect whatever is shown will be provided to you. The right policy of Land Rover. So, looking at the demand for this car, engineers and designers of Land Rover started making this car and indulged in making its road-legal version. But to make this car's road-legal version, Land Rover had to face three big problems:

1. First Land Rover thought to make this car into a body on ladder frame car. Which will give the feel of an SUV. But the market needs were going towards monocoque chassis-based cars and also towards SUVs because we get good efficiency in it. And we get less weight in it, So Land Rover had to change its whole plan and this car had to shift to its D8 platform based. On which Freelander is based, on which Discovery is based, and also on which Harrier and Safari are based. So technically you can say if you have a Harrier, So in one way, you have a Freelander or Range Rover Evoque.

2. Land Rover had thought that it would make its LRX into a separate division of cars like Discovery, Defender, or Range Rover which would have a lot of cars. But when Land Rover did some research on this idea, then it didn't make any sense. Because the rest of its ranges have barely one or two cars. So launching a separate range and having only one car in it will be very useless. Because it will take a lot of time to build up a brand under that range. So then Land Rover decided that it is better to launch this car under Range Rover than to launch it in a different range. Because Range Rover has a good market value And also a good brand equity So it will be easy to market this car by launching it under Range Rover, by putting some premiumness in this car, Land Rover can put a better price for this car. And the consumers also will be happy because they will get a feel and comfort of Range Rover in a small car. 

3. Land Rover is not making the LRX a separate range and they are launching this car under Range Rover. So they can't name this car LRX because it is a car, not in a separate range. And LRX is a cool name Land Rover can use in some upcoming cars or for variants, LRX looks premium. So Land Rover wanted a new cool name for this car. And which can match the identity of this car. So Land Rover named this car EVOQUE. Which is made from EVOKE. Which means, to surprise or to shock somebody. And this car was really surprising. Because no one had seen such a cool and high-tech car. And after 2 years of hard work, And spending almost 1 billion dollars, On 18th November 2010, Land Rover unveiled this car or unveils Evoque, which is its road-legal version. 

Initially, this car is unveiled in the 5-door version. And later, its 3-door version was unveiled. Land Rover designers said, that the looks of this car will be 90% the same as its concept model, it is the same in this car. In which you get the same thin lights, a thin grill in front gets a masculine bonnet in front, a tapering roofline, an upright body line, and thick wheel arches. While in the interior, you get a slanting dashboard that is performance-oriented. Wherein an aluminum finish, and an 8-inch screen on its dashboard. The instrument cluster is also very sporty in its seats, you get thick bolsterings. So that, you feel sporty. The roof is made of glass in this car and the car has a sporty SUV feel which won't get old even in the next 10 years. In this car, you get a 2.2-liter diesel engine which gives you 150 or 190 horsepower(HP) and an average of around 20 kmpl. Which is claimed by Land Rover. This is a very big thing so at first sight this car was loved by consumers. But it became even more loved when Land Rover disclosed the price of this car.

In which the starting price of this car was 28K pounds and its top-end spec was worth 44000 pounds. People went crazy on the first day of its unveiling. This car got 5 lakh inquiries. Land Rover initially anticipated that this car would have around 40,000 sales per year. But on the first day of the launch bookings of its 30K units were done. So, Land Rover had to increase its production capacity. Land Rover hired around 1K additional employees within some months. So that they could produce this car quickly and deliver it to customers. This car was not just good looking and you don't get good functionality. Every magazine gave this car a world car of the year award in 2011. And in the 6 months of its launch, this car got 50 awards from prominent car magazines. So this means that customers liked this car, Dealerships liked this car, and Car magazines liked this car. It is a perfect car that a carmaker can make. The Euro NCAP takes this car and tests it to see what it means. That this car has good features. Maybe it wouldn't have better safety. But this car scores a 5-star rating, so this car wins in this realm too. And conquers well.

EVOQUE Launched in INDIA

In November 2011, Land Rover launched this car in India and its price in India is around 44 lakh rupees starting from Ex-Room India which I think is a lot of value for money if you see technically, 11 years ago you used to get Range Rover Evoque in 44 lakh ex-room but now you get a Fortuner you don't get that in any top-end variant like Legender. Look at how times have changed. Things have gotten very expensive. Then in mid-2012, this car was aged 1 year after its launch. And this car got 80K bookings Which is a very big number in a year according to today's standards. This number is normal in India. Because in India, lakhs of scorpions are booked in 30 minutes. But at that time, there was no such online booking system. At that time, local dealerships used to book. 

At that time, no one used to book for fun. So these 80 K bookings is a very big number. Till 2016, Land Rover has sold 4 lakh units of this car Which is a very big number. Because this car has been launched for the last 5 years. And 4 lakh units of this car have been sold and now Land Rover has launched a new facelift of this car In which you get 20% higher efficiency as compared to the previous version. You get some sporty bumpers in front, new LED lights, new taillights, new alloys, and new screens in the interior, and pretty much the car is the same, But you get some new adjustments to make this car new. In 2016, Land Rover launched the convertible version of this car Which is a very new concept In which the 3-door version of this car. The roof of that car was removed by Land Rover and the roof of a convertible car was. and it becomes a convertible SUV Which is a very new thing and no one has ever seen it. Its sales were not that good, but at least Land Rover tried.

But you must be thinking that everything is going well and everything is going well and nothing is going wrong. So, it is not so! In 2017-18, the sale of this car started to decrease. It decreased from 98,000, and now it has reached 68,000. Because this car was a bit old and all the other competitions were going well, Land Rover had to do something new. They got back to their roots and started making this car again, and in 2018, they launched the second generation of this car. In which you get the DNA of the whole Evoque. But you get a completely new look In which you get very thin lights in front. You get very minimalism in the looks of this car In which you get integrated door handles. On the back, you get very thin tail lights which are in a black bar. And this car, the look is like Velar. It is a big SUV. 

If you see the interior, You get a dual screen in its dashboard In which you get the digital instrument cluster and you get new technology that makes this car better than earlier. And the sales of this generation were also decent. But this car could not gather that attraction which was done by the older Evoque in its launch. And this car has become very overshadowed in front of Velar or Defenders or the new cars of Land Rover. Because it is very advanced now and now the consumers are preferring As compared to buying a small Discovery Sport. And still, these cars are very cool. You can buy them, only the price is a bit expensive in India. It is worth Rs. 80 lakhs.

 TATA MOTORS has been indulging in the business of automobile manufacturing since 1945. Mahindra and Mahindra have been developing vehicles for the country for the last 77 years. Bajaj Auto came into existence in the year 1945 and there are many such renowned companies involved in the manufacturing of internal combustion-based vehicles in our country.

The latest company involved in the business of automobile manufacturing was Hero Motocorp which came into existence with the name Hero Honda. Hero Honda started manufacturing automobiles in our country in the year 1984 with all these facts. Over the past 38-40 years not a single new automobile company has evolved in India which develops vehicles based on engines with Internal Combustion, this thing is happening not only in India. In Japan too, the last company which evolved as an automobile manufacturer was Honda which came into existence in the year 1946 the same goes for other countries as well believe me or not Jeep is the latest automobile manufacturing company in America that came into operation in the year 194. There is a thing common to all automobile manufacturing countries which manufacture ample amounts of vehicles for the past 50-70 years. No new company has come into existence that manufactures vehicles based on ICE Engines. And there are some solid reasons behind this fact.

A new trend that is linked to Electric Vehicles

But we all can experience a new trend that is linked to Electric Vehicles. On one side, no new ICE-based vehicle manufacturer could be observed for the past many years in the whole world. On the other side, many new EV manufacturing brands are evolving. Especially Electric Scooters, Newer brands are based in such countries which evolved as a dark horse. But if I get specific to India. The evolution of EV manufacturers in India is as prominent as the foreign countries or maybe manifolds more than the foreign countries. India has evolved as the epicenter of two-wheeler EV manufacturers and there is an estimation that there are 25-30 such two-wheeler EV manufacturers in India, An estimate is done because there are many two-wheeler EV manufacturers which are developing EVs on a very small scale. Not much information is available about these companies on the Internet. Neither of their websites gives any solid information. Now the point to note is how does this happen? Because for the past many years, no new conventional automobile manufacturer has evolved in our country. 

Whereas many new EV manufacturers have come into existence in the past 5-10 years in India. There are two possible answers to this question the first answer is the manufacturing of EVs is very simpler than the manufacturing of ICE Engine based vehicles. And the second answer is, Chinese Imports it can be observed in India that many EV manufacturers are developing their EV products which are derived from Chinese EVs, therefore, you would get to know this in the future.

Rebaging the Chinese EVs

Which of the EV manufacturers is rebadging the Chinese EVs and how could the Chinese brands capture the Indian EV market through such activities Which happened earlier in the Indian Smartphone Market you would also get to know about the EV manufacturers which are fully developing EVs in India on their own. Before getting specific to India We should understand, Why is the manufacturing of EVs very simple than the manufacturing of an IC Engine based vehicle?

Due to this, the Indian EV market has been crowded with many new brands. Many of you must be aware of the fact that a conventional two-wheeler or four-wheeler consists of pistons in its Engine's moves due to controlled combustion. But this alone is not enough for the operation of a car. This vertical motion is converted into rotational motion through the crankshaft and then the rotation of the wheels is done through many rotating parts in between. For the operation of an ICE Engine based vehicle, many things rotate like gears, clutch, flywheel, and many types of pulleys facilitate the operation of the air conditioning system and liquid cooling system of a car timing chains, etc.

Complexities between Convention ICE Engine and Electric Vehicles

A conventional car consists of around 200 parts that facilitate the smooth operation of a car all the parts which have mentioned differ from Engine to Engine. The size of these parts also depends on the size of the car. If any part is not of the appropriate shape or size then the car would not run smoothly, therefore, the manufacturing of any ICE Engine based vehicle requires a lot of Research and Development. 

A two-wheeler does not have as many parts as a four-wheeler. But still, its manufacturing is quite challenging due to the complexity of the manufacturing of ICE Engine-based vehicles. We observed that when Indian automobile manufacturers started manufacturing vehicles then either they used to outsource the Engines or they used to develop the Engine in collaboration with foreign countries. "Hero-Honda" Due to this complexity in the manufacturing of ICE Engine based vehicles, No new conventional automobile company has evolved not only in India but the whole world for the past many years. 

While the operation of EVs requires the use of very less key components and if we get specific to the Electric Two-Wheelers, Then the amount of components is only around 5 to 7 like motors, controllers, batteries, etc.

Import of Batteries from China, Korea, or Japan

The motors are the parts of EVs that move in actuality the manufacturing of EVs seems to be very simple from this perspective. Comparatively, the manufacturing of EVs is very simple but the manufacturing of one component is still very complex and that is battery cells therefore almost every Indian two-wheeler EV manufacturer imports battery cells from China, Korea, or Japan. But if we get specific to the Indian EV storm then the role of innovation and Research and Development in India is not as prominent as that in China.

The Monopoly of China in Two Wheeler EVs

China has a monopoly in the manufacturing of two-wheeler EVs. China is producing almost 4 crore Electric Scooters per year. This huge amount of Electric Scooters, which are getting manufactured in China are not only sold in China but also in foreign countries. And this is done in two ways either the Chinese manufacturers sell their Electric Scooters with the original brand name or many OEMs in China produce these electric scooters in bulk and sell these Scooters in the wholesale market not only this, these OEMs do some changes to the power configuration and looks. As per the demand and then many foreign companies buy the knockdown form of these EVs from these Chinese OEMs and then these companies sell these EVs in their respective countries by assembling them with their own brand name and logo. A similar could be observed in India on a very large scale many new EV makers have evolved in India and many such people have jumped into the business of EVs.

Which do not belong to the manufacturing or tech field directly Like Evolet India is operated by defense veterans and many such small and unconventional named EV manufacturers are visible in India. Like Kabira Mobility, Komaki, Nij Automotive, Zelta, Etc many Chinese EVs are getting sold in India with the logo of Indian Brands and a very weird thing could also be observed in this and that is, many Indian EV manufacturers are rebadging only these four Chinese Electric Scooters. We found this thread from TEAM BHP in my research which claims that these 22-23 EV manufacturers are rebadging these four Chinese Electric Scooters. But I did not blindly trust this thread and tried to research it on my own and then I found that this fact was almost correct.

Many EV manufacturers are developing Scooters that look like these Scooters and the copied version of Vespa is visible on many brands. One could assume that the brands which are doing so are very small companies with the least expectations. Many EV manufacturers do not have a team of more than 50 people. But what about the big bulls? According to a report from July 2022, these are the top 10 Electric Scooters manufacturers in India.

The downfall of Micromax and the rise of Revolt

But unfortunately, many manufacturers of these are also selling electric scooters which are fully developed in China you might have heard about the smartphone brand Micromax that used to outplay Samsung in terms of smartphone sales in India. Now it is very difficult to find a Micromax Smartphone in the market but its co-founder Rahul Sharma started a new company recently with the name Revolt that manufactures an electric motorcycle RV-400 and Revolt is the 7th largest two-wheeler EV seller in India. Rahul Sharma found a new and very profitable means of developing this Motorcycle and that is, Revolt does not manufacture this motorcycle on its own. This motorcycle is the Rebadged Version of a Chinese Motorcycle from the Chinese Brand Super Soco. Micromax too used to operate in a similar fashion Micromax used to provide bulk orders to the Chinese OEMs and thus the smartphones of Micromax used to be manufactured in China.

Case Study of Electric Scooter Brand Okinawa 

Many EV manufacturers accept this fact with no shame that they are selling the Rebadged version of Chinese Two-Wheelers. Many of you might have heard about the Electric Scooter brand Okinawa This is an Indian brand that sounds like any Japanese brand. This brand is based in Gurgaon, India, and today, Okinawa is the 2nd largest electric two-wheeler manufacturer in India. Autocar was the first magazine to publish about Okinawa in the year 2017. It was mentioned in the article that Okinawa was selling a scooter with its brand name but that scooter was manufactured by a Chinese brand Luyuan. At that time many EV manufacturers were operating similarly. But Okinawa had something unique. 

Okinawa claimed that they have fully developed this scooter in India on their own Next similar article by Autocar was published in the year 2020. This time they found that the latest Cruiser E-Scooter from Okinawa again resembled a scooter manufactured by Luyuan. But again Okinawa claimed that even this scooter is in-house designed and developed by them and again in the year 2022, Autocar published a similar article about Okinawa. Every scooter from Okinawa resembles the scooters manufactured by the Chinese brand Luyuan. The brand logo of Okinawa also resembles the brand logo of Luyuan. 

The two brand logo only differs in their colors, one more thing was found in this article. One scooter from Hero Electric which is the largest Electric Scooter manufacturer in India also resembles a Chinese Electric Scooter and there might be more such scooters of which I am not aware it is not at all illegal to sell Chinese products in India.

Smartphone market pattern in India

Despite being totally legal, this operating model has a drawback you must be aware of the fact that how big were smartphone makers like Micromax, Lava, and Karbon during some time? But then came a period when Chinese smartphone brands like Xiaomi, Vivo, and Oppo entered the Indian market. These Chinese brands brought cheaper and more advanced smartphones to the Indian market. Due to this, the Indian manufacturers lost their market this happened because these Indian brands used to manufacture smartphones through Chinese OEMs and used to sell them in the Indian market when the big Chinese smartphone brands entered the Indian market. Then the Indian smartphone brands were neither technologically advanced enough nor these Indian brands had any Research and Development facilities to compete with the Chinese brands.

The EV market in India

A similar scenario can be observed in the Indian EV market. Chinese EV brands are trying to understand the Indian EV market through Indian EV brands and when they would gather enough information, then the Chinese EV brands would launch their own highly advanced and cheaper Electric Scooters in India and these Scooters sold only by the Indian brand Logo would extinct from the Indian market.

These Indian Startups are working on Electric Motorcycles in INDIA

Many Indian Electric Two Wheelers brands are working very hard and ground up developing advanced Electric Scooters in India. Like Ather Electric which does not require any introduction, Revamp Motors is developing Electric Scooters for Micro-Entrepreneurs Ultraviolette Automotive that is developing a lightning-fast Electric Motorcycle. Ola Electric is working very hard to develop an Indian Futuristic Electric car. There are 9-10 Indian Startups that are fully developing their products in India and these startups would lead the Indian EV market in the future would compete neck to neck with the Chinese brands.

If you have found this article interesting write in the comment section. What do you feel about this Indian Electric Scooters Scenario?

 Batteries are becoming an increasingly important energy storage technique. As the world continues to migrate away from relying on fossil fuel energy and toward energy generated by emission-free electrification. Since their first commercial introduction in the early 1990s, lithium-ion batteries have become the power source of selection for many electronic devices, including mobile phones, electric vehicles, and drones.

The demand for lithium-ion batteries for electric power vehicles and energy storage has seen exponential growth, from just 0.5 gigawatt-hours in 2010 to approximately 526 gigawatt-hours a decade later in 2022. This growth is because lithium-ion batteries can accumulate a significant amount of energy. And according to Bloomberg's projections, demand will climb 17 times by the year 2030, which will decrease the cost of battery storage.

Which Automakers are in the race for Hydrogen cars?

In addition, recycling lithium-ion batteries is difficult and expensive. Therefore, now is the right time to grab this opportunity to search for alternative battery technologies that are both effective and affordable. Thankfully, two of the most well-known automotive manufacturers in the world have plans to collaborate on the research and development of a brand-new type of battery that will revolutionize the industry! So, what are these companies, and how exactly will this happen? 

BMW and Toyota plan to develop hydrogen fuel cells for their EVs! 

It has been reported that by the middle of the decade, BMW and Toyota will work together to manufacture hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. According to BMW sales chief Pieter Nota, who spoke with an online news platform, the two will start producing and selling hydrogen fuel cell vehicles they created together as early as 2025. You see, the automakers had collaborated in the past, such as when they developed the iX5 hydrogen, which was based on BMW’s X5 SUV.

Additionally, in 2019, they also jointly built the BMW Z4 and the Toyota Supra sports cars. Toyota has extensive expertise with fuel cell technology, and the company's Mirai mid-size vehicle, which debuted eight years ago and is now entering its second generation, is evidence of this. These vehicles do not have an internal combustion engine or battery, and they use hydrogen and oxygen to generate power. Cars powered by fuel cells have several advantages over battery-powered vehicles since they can get more miles per gallon and can get refueled in as little as 3 to 4 minutes. However, most of the public hydrogen stations in the United States are located in the state of California, and even in that state, the technology is not yet suitable for widespread use. Now, despite BMW's re-entry into the electric vehicle industry with the i4 four-door coupe and the IX SUV, the company has hinted that it may also pursue hydrogen as an energy source in the future.

Oliver Zipse, the CEO of the company, stated in a recent earnings call that the company’s next-generation platform, Neue Klasse, will most likely be designed to support gaseous fuel in addition to pure battery power. The firm has also previously implemented a plan with a platform known as CLAR. That supported internal combustion engines, plug-in hybrids, and fully electric propulsion systems. Now, this method is described as an “all-of-the-above" strategy. And because of CLAR, BMW was able to move fast on plug-in hybrids.

Nevertheless, the company's recent attempts to develop pure EVs have lagged behind its competitors. Neue Klasse may experience the same issues, or they may be able to find a solution to them. Beginning in 2025, when new 3-series sedans and X3 SUVs based on the platform go on sale, the market will have the opportunity to make the decision.

But first, how exactly do hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles work? 

Fuel cell electric vehicles or FCEVs are similar to all-electric cars because they use electricity to power an electric motor. In contrast to other types of electric cars, fuel cell electric vehicles generate their own electricity by using a fuel cell fuelled by hydrogen rather than just drawing electricity from a battery. Now, the vehicle's power is determined by the vehicle’s manufacturer during the process of designing the car. The vehicle's power is also determined by the size of the electric motor that receives electric power from the fuel cell and the correctly sized battery combination. Even though car manufacturers could design an FCEV with plug-in capabilities to charge the battery, most FCEVs on the market today use the battery to store the energy that is recovered from braking.

This not only offers additional power during brief acceleration events but also helps to smooth out the power produced by the fuel cell. It is done by giving the driver a choice to let the fuel cell idle or switch it off when the vehicle's power requirements are low. The size of the hydrogen fuel tank on board is also what determines the total quantity of energy that can be stored there. However, this is not the same as an all-electric vehicle, in which the size of the battery is directly related to the amount of power and energy available.

BMW sees potential in Hydrogen Fuel cell Technology

So, BMW is one of the few automakers who believe that switching to electric propulsion does not necessarily require the installation of cumbersome and space-consuming batteries in a vehicle. And it continues to see potential in hydrogen technology. As a result, the iX5 will undergo a limited production run in the latter half of 2022. It's interesting to note that the German luxury brand has also already started planning for the future of fuel cell technology. During the conference call to discuss the firm's half-year report, the chairman of BMW Group, Oliver Zipse, stated that the company is "already thinking about a possible future generation." And if the proposal is accepted, it won't be implemented shortly because the current generation of the X5 is scheduled to have a mid-cycle refresh in 2023. This means that the next-generation SUV won't hit the market until 2026. Nevertheless, the executive's statement shows that BMW is serious about pursuing hydrogen as a fuel source. 

Oliver Zipse asserts that “hydrogen is the missing piece of the puzzle that can complement electro-mobility in places where battery-electric drivetrains are unable to gain traction". To that end, the  Neue Klasse platform, scheduled to debut in 2025 with a battery-powered 3 Series Sedan, could be modified to support a fuel cell. The executive, who is 58 years old, has also stated that for the time being,  BMW can only "imagine a hydrogen drivetrain for this new vehicle generation". The top executive at BMW thinks that hydrogen-powered individual mobility "needs reassessing", particularly in some countries where traditional battery EVs have not yet achieved widespread acceptance. 

The BMW iX5 Hydrogen is an SUV that weighs less than a battery-powered vehicle of comparable size. And that's because it replaces huge batteries with two hydrogen tanks constructed from carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP). The SUV has a total output of 374 horsepower (275 kW). And it has a higher power output than a vehicle of a similar size. 

You see, it takes only three to four minutes to refuel a hydrogen-fueled automobile, making it just as quick as a vehicle powered by gasoline or diesel. This is in addition to the fact that a hydrogen-powered car is noticeably lighter than a conventional electric vehicle. In the case of the BMW iX5, the sport utility vehicle (SUV), BMW developed the car to use waste heat to warm the interior cabin. As with other hydrogen-powered vehicles, such as the Toyota  Mirai, the only emission is water vapor. And now, all we need to do is keep an eye on this area to learn more about the production-ready fuel cell SUV, the BMW iX5 Hydrogen, since the first vehicle reviews are scheduled to take place in Europe this fall. 

So, what do you think of BMW and Toyota's initiative to develop this battery? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below! 

 So every major automaker has announced plans to build lithium-ion battery giga factories. Tesla, Volkswagen, BYD, Ford, and others have plans to build giant gigafactories. In India Ola Electric and the Tata group have plans to make massive plants and manufacture these cells at a large scale, the aim of building these vast factories at an immense scale is to reduce prices.

What are Sodium-Ion Batteries?

Sodium-ion batteries (Na-ion batteries) are a type of rechargeable battery that use sodium ions as the charge carriers in the electrolyte. They are similar to the more common lithium-ion batteries, but they use sodium as the key component in the battery's cathode instead of using lithium. Sodium is an abundant and low-cost element, making sodium-ion batteries a potential alternative to lithium-ion batteries for large-scale energy storage applications.

Na-ion batteries have several advantages over lithium-ion batteries, such as lower production costs and a higher abundance of critical components. However, they also have some disadvantages, such as a lower energy density, meaning they require larger cells to store the same amount of energy. They can be less stable than lithium-ion batteries, which can affect the battery's overall performance and lifespan.

Despite these challenges, sodium-ion battery technology is an active area of research and development, to improve their performance, safety, and durability, so that they can be used in a variety of applications, including electric vehicles, grid-scale energy storage, and portable electronics.

Problems with Lithium Ion Batteries

But lithium has a fundamental problem demand for the element is so great that applications including electric vehicles portable electronic devices and stationary energy storage units that lithium mining companies are struggling to keep up. In addition, about 90 % of the world's lithium supply is controlled by Chinese companies the world needs to do something about this, and yes changes are happening to solve the problem.

Let's dive straight into the prices of lithium. Lithium has gone to an insane level, the CEO of Tesla Elon Musk tweeted in April that Tesla might have to get into the mining and refining directly to affect it at scale unless costs improve there is no shortage of the element itself as lithium is almost everywhere on earth but the pace of extraction and refinement is languid. Musk pointed to data from the information service world statistics showing that the price of lithium hydroxide had risen to $78,032 per metric ton from merely 6800 per ton in 2019. As he says there is a lot of lithium last year the world mined a hundred thousand metric tons of lithium for use in consumer electronics and electric vehicles the world's usable reserves are around 14 million metric tons while the amount of the proven reserves to around 62 million tons. So there is a lot of lithium out there even if we continue to use lithium-ion batteries for the next 20 years but the mining industry needs to catch up with the demand.

Most promising Alternative Sodium-Ion batteries

So the alternative is to manufacture batteries based on sodium chemistry but multiple automakers are seeking a secure supply chain for battery materials. The big issue with sodium-ion batteries is that they can store only about 2/3rd of the energy of lithium-ion batteries of equivalent size. But the energy density is steadily increasing and they are reaching the levels which are found in lithium-ion phosphate batteries which are the safest kind of lithium-ion batteries. None of the sodium ion batteries are commercial yet but serious competition for lithium could soon be on the way.

Chemistry of Sodium and Lithium

If you look at the periodic table of elements lithium and sodium are similar metals they are both alkaline metals and both have one electron in the outermost shell. Sodium is bigger and heavier than lithium they both are in the same group. Lithium right now is very expensive and sodium is quite cheap. The price of lithium hydroxide has risen to 78032 dollars per metric ton while the cost of sodium hydroxide is below 800 per metric ton. 

Also, sodium is universally available so there are lots of advantages for sodium-ion batteries we have been hearing about the game-changing battery chemistry like solid-state batteries or graphene batteries, or dual carbon with carbon anode and carbon cathode batteries but those will take a little bit more time may be more than a decade to materialize in my opinion.

So the most promising chemistry is sodium ion which will go into production as early as 2023. The process to extract the raw material is around 100 times cheaper however the battery pack contains lots of other stuff that apart from the elemental lithium or sodium analyzed field that sodium ion cells will be 20 to 40 % cheaper. 

But the challenge will be to bring the technology to scale and we can expect large sodium iron gigafactories only in the mid-2020s the good part is that the manufacturing process is very similar to lithium-ion cell manufacturing, so all of these facilities can be used for either.

Benefits of Sodium Ion batteries

Apart from the cost, there is no risk of thermal runaway with sodium ion technology, in fact, with sodium ion technology you can discharge completely to 0 % and then transport them there is zero risk of them catching fire it is very safe to transport. Another benefit is low-temperature performance this is not much of a factor for India but it's good news for people using EVs in the Himalayas, you don't have to warm up the battery it works great from minus 20 degrees Celsius to plus 65 degrees Celcius which are very well taken care of the entire temperature range of the subcontinent. The biggest problem with sodium iron is the gravimetric energy density is relatively low it's 70 to 160 Wh/kg. 

CATL the Chinese battery behemoth has claimed to have reached that level, and the energy density is approaching that of LFP batteries. So for ultra-efficient vehicles like scooters or motorcycles LFP batteries and sodium iron can work fine.

Which Companies are developing and investing in sodium-ion batteries?

The three major companies working on sodium ion cells are Ferradion a UK-based startup, natron energy bay area san Francisco-based startup, and CATL a huge Chinese battery behemoth. 

CATL is one of the largest battery manufacturers in the world and they announced last year about manufacturing sodium-ion batteries in 2023. 

Ferradion is a small UK startup that has been working on this technology for many years and is bought out by our very own reliance industries, which will build several gigafactories within India by 2024. And reliance is bullish on sodium ion cell technology. 

Neutron is a company based at Stanford University they have a chemistry that uses Prussian blue for both anode and cathode they can achieve an energy density of 70 watts per kilometer per kilogram, which is low but their main focus is energy storage. The life cycle is crazy they claim more than a lakh cycle on their cells while LFP cells have only around 2000 cycles if they can improve the gravimetric energy density they can be a serious player. Just imagine a scooter battery that can be used for a million kilometers it is ridiculous it will outlive the entire civilization.

CATL claims they will reach 200 watt-hours per kilogram which would be better than LFP cells as the Ferradion has reached 180 watts per kilogram. So there is a lot of potentials here the exciting thing is the capability for sodium-ion cells to be recyclable. You can recycle close to 90. So this is a hugely recyclable battery and this is one of the big advantages for the sodium ions. I am very excited that three large companies including Reliance and CATL are pumping money into sodium ion manufacturing, the energy density for the next three to four years may not be ideal for large cars.

But sodium ions should easily fit in electric scooters e-bikes small cars and three-wheelers and of course, grid-level energy storage, if the battery was 30 to 40 % cheaper that would reduce the cost of EVs as well, and things, have already begun to heat up. Chinese scooter startup NIU, which sells electric scooters worldwide, has already announced plans to launch a sodium ion-based scooter in 2023. NIU’s CEO lee yan told Chinese media that NIU wants to keep costs under control but did not specify who will manufacture the battery packs.

Reliance New Energy Solar buys Farradion

India's chairman of reliance industries Mukesh Ambani said we welcome Ferradion and its experienced team to the reliance family. This will further strengthen and build upon our ambition to create one of the most advanced and integrated new energy ecosystems to put India at the forefront of leading battery technologies. 

The sodium ion technology developed by Ferradion provides a globally leading energy storage and safely sustainable battery solution that provides high energy density and is significantly cost-competitive.

Which Indian Companies are developing and investing in Sodium-Ion Batteries?

Several Indian companies are investing in the development and commercialization of sodium-ion batteries. Some of the notable companies in this field include:

Amrita Center for Nanosciences and Molecular Medicine (ACNSMM): Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, a leading research institute in India is conducting research on sodium-ion batteries.

CSIR-Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CECRI): a premier research institute under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in India, has a strong focus on sodium-ion battery research and development.

Amara Raja Batteries Ltd.: Amara Raja Batteries, based in Hyderabad, is a leading manufacturer of batteries in India and is exploring the development of sodium-ion batteries for energy storage applications.

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL): BHEL, a government-owned company based in New Delhi, is one of the largest engineering and manufacturing companies in India. It has been involved in the research and development of sodium-ion batteries and has developed prototypes for use in renewable energy applications.

Bharat Energy Storage Technology Private Limited (BEST): is a company focused on the development and commercialization of energy storage technologies, including sodium-ion batteries.

Exicom Tele-Systems: Exicom Tele-Systems, based in New Delhi, is a leading provider of energy storage solutions in India and has developed sodium-ion batteries for use in energy storage applications.

Indo-US MIM Tech Private Limited: Indo-US MIM Tech, based in Pune, is a manufacturer of metal injection molded parts and is also exploring the development of sodium-ion batteries for energy storage applications.

These are some of the notable Indian companies that are investing in the development of sodium-ion batteries, but there may be others as well. The Indian government has also been supporting the development of sodium-ion batteries through various initiatives and programs, which are expected to drive further growth in this field in the coming years.

Applications of Sodium-Ion Batteries

In addition, it has wide-use applications from mobility to grid-scale storage. Sodium ions can be the real deal in this technology compared to all the other chemistries in the coming years, which are brilliant. This decade sodium ion cells will go hand in hand with LFP cells and turbocharge the EV revolution.

 Electric vehicles have spread their charisma all over the world. Tesla and Elon Musk fans are enthusiastic about EVs on various social media platforms. And now the Indian car makers are also shifting towards electric vehicles.

In the era of EVs, our Road and Transport Minister has introduced Hydrogen cars. He arrived in Parliament in this car (Toyota Mirai) and became part of many headlines. So, what are these Hydrogen cars? Before the mass utilization of EVs, can Hydrogen cars replace them? Let's explore this together in today's article.

History of Hydrogen Fuel

It is not the first time that Hydrogen has been used as a fuel. In the year 1937, Hydrogen was used as a fuel in the Hindenburg Aircraft. But unfortunately, it got ruptured in its flight and 35 people out of 100 died due to the arson. The aircraft was eradicated, but Hydrogen continued as a fuel NASA also uses hydrogen gas as a fuel to shift its crew and cargo from one place to another. In the year 1960, General Motors invented an Electro Van which was an FCEV. The car in which Mr. Gadkari went to the parliament was Toyota Mirai was also an FCEV. FCEV stands for Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle.

How does a Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car work?

It is very simple Hydrogen is filled in its tank and Oxygen is obtained from the surrounding air. So, there exists a fuel cell where Hydrogen and Oxygen interact and produces water, heat, and electricity. Heat escapes into the atmosphere, and water gets evaporated. And the electricity generated drives the electric motor and accelerates the car.

Benefits of Hydrogen Cars

If you think this type of EV has advantages over both normal fuel-based vehicles and electric vehicles.

It does not need to be recharged via electricity, Fill the hydrogen tank of the vehicle and travel anywhere. The advantage of FCEVs is the use of electric motors, which don't cause any type of pollution. These FCEVs don't even have the issues of Range and Charging.

A range of 250-300 Km in an electric vehicle and the charging time ranges from 6-8 hours. In FCEVs, the range is around 600 Km for this, you only have to get your hydrogen tank full which takes nearly 5 minutes There is one more problem with the EVs which is less spoken.

There is a weight-to-range ratio suppose you have an EV, a battery is installed in it, and it has a range of 100 Km. Now you want your EV to run for 200 Km then how many batteries would be required? You might be thinking of 2 but this is wrong. The battery itself has some weight that will make the EV heavier. So, two batteries won't provide a doubled range you can reach somewhere around 180 Km. The more range one thinks to increase more batteries are required It will become impossible after a certain time to install more batteries.

Hydrogen-based cars are free from all this. Just Increase the size of the tank fill more H2 gas and increase the range. Exactly like conventional fuel-based vehicles. So, the benefit of the Weight to Range ratio is provided in Hydrogen based vehicles.

One more problem with Electric Vehicles is less taken care of the optimum temperature for an Electric Vehicle to perform better is 21 degrees The batteries of EVs exhaust rapidly in colder regions similar to your smartphones. But there is no such issue in hydrogen-based vehicles. There are no special batteries used in FCEV to drive the car. FCEVs use hydrogen gas, and acceleration depends on the burning of Hydrogen gas. If there are so many benefits, you might be thinking that these vehicles should be having a good market share.

Market Size of Hydrogen Cars?

Not at all, In the year 2021, a total of 6 Million electric vehicles were sold, but only 15000 Hydrogen based vehicles were sold. Now there are more than 1000 charging stations for electric vehicles, but there is only 1 hydrogen station in our country. Elon Musk makes a mockery of these FCEVs in Public he terms these infeasible and told them they have no future.

What are the problems with hydrogen-based vehicles which prohibit their growth?

The first problem is that these are very expensive. A normal car is available for Rs 10 Lacs, and a similar vehicle under the EVs is available at 12-13 Lacs. But the Hydrogen cars would cost you around 24 Lacs. The charging stations of electric vehicles, if cost around $50000 for their development. Then the development of a hydrogen station requires $20 Lacs. The reason is the storage if the hydrogen is stored at a high pressure a lot of expertise is required and that's why it is not at all cost-effective.

The second reason is the issue of Psychological Safety. Everybody has watched the videos of the Hindenburg Disaster. But Toyota Company is determined They declare that these vehicles are safe, and they even fired a bullet at the car to show that it does not catch fire.

But Psychologically many people doubt the safety of FCEVs. So, Safety is a major concern. If we keep the cost and safety aside but still, FCEVs have many technical disadvantages.

Hydrogen Cars vs Electric Vehicles

There is no point in comparing these with conventional fuel-based vehicles. As they are already less in demand. So, EVs which are the replacement for conventional cars must be compared with the FCEVs. To know the limitations of FCEVs. 

The first one is low energy efficiency. This whole article has been published which explains this. Let me lucidly tell you, Hydrogen gas is required to run a Hydrogen based vehicle, It will be extracted from somewhere suppose you extract it from water for an instance, takes 100 Watts of electricity and supplied it into the water. 25 Watts of electricity was consumed and Hydrogen was extracted. Now you would transport this hydrogen gas It would require compression 10 Watts of electricity will be used for this. When this Hydrogen will be filled in the Vehicle and then it will react with oxygen to produce electricity. 25 Watts will be consumed in this process. So your 60 Watts of electricity has already been consumed 40 Watts of electricity is left. This means the efficiency of Hydrogen based vehicles is around 40%. If we compare it with EVs, then EVs have an efficiency of around 80%. So this article mentions that Hydrogen should not be used in cars. Hydrogen can be used in Industries where natural gas is being used, but Hydrogen is not at all efficient for cars. 

The second one is Performance a car is picked based on good pick-up and acceleration and EVs are far ahead of FCEVs in this criterion. Also If we compare Toyota Mirai and Tesla Model 3 these two vehicles have similar costs Mirai takes around 9 seconds to reach 60 Kmph from 0 Kmph. But Tesla requires a meager 3 seconds. Mirai has a top speed of 170 Kmph And Tesla has a top speed of more than 230 Kmph. So the performance of Hydrogen cars is poor than the performance of EVs.

Environmental Concerns

The third one includes environmental concerns, Hear it carefully EVs and FCEVs seem to be environmentally friendly from the outside but Hydrogen Based vehicles emit water and EVs don't have any emissions as these have batteries. But the point is what is the primary source of energy? Cobalt which is used in the batteries of EVs comes from mining which causes environmental damage when EVs would be adopted on a large scale. Then where will the malfunctioning batteries be dumped? No one has any idea similar problems are present with the FCEVs All the Hydrogen which is made nowadays is made by burning Methane or Coal and the environmental damage caused by these is 3 times more than the damage caused by EVs.

Investments in Hydrogen Fuel

Despite all this Toyota, Hyundai, and BMW are manufacturing Hydrogen based vehicles. The reason behind this is all the issues that I have mentioned would be solved when the FCEVs would become efficient and more scalable. The Indian Government has set a target that by 2030. India will produce 5 million tons of green hydrogen every year. Gautam Adani and total energy have signed a deal of $ 50 Million to produce green hydrogen. Apart from this Tata and Ambani are also investing in green hydrogen.

What is this Green Hydrogen?

As I told you earlier, nowadays Hydrogen is produced from methane. Green hydrogen will replace this would be produced from renewable resources. And the vehicles using hydrogen emit water. So the environmental damage caused by vehicles based on green hydrogen would be very less when compared to the EVs. Hydrogen Fuel Cells can disrupt the market in two ways.

Where would Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles be used more?

The first is Industrial/commercial vehicles which require long ranges EVs would be ineffective as a lot of batteries would be required. Hydrogen-based vehicles can work exceptionally here. FCEV would be more powerful for heavy-duty commercial vehicles, polluting less. The second one is Industrial used cases where natural gas has been used. 

The use of hydrogen gas will make them more environmentally friendly and like today, Elon Musk makes a mockery of hydrogen-based vehicles. Similarly, people used to laugh at solar energy around 8-10 years back. But now it has developed a lot and India is not very far in solar energy.