Limitation and challenges of

Electric and Hybrid Vehicles

Understanding the Scope of the Challenges
The limitation and Challenges of the Electric and Hybrid Vehicles can be divided
into two categories:

● Technological
● Economical

Both these factors are interlinked and dependent on one another.

For the purpose of this report we will take into consideration technologies that has
been commercialized and is available in the market for deployment.
Technological Limitation
The technological limitation to the pertains to the following factors:

● Battery
○ Range provided by the battery.(Amount of Power Stored)
○ Charging Speed(Need for faster Charging)
○ Size of Battery(Power Density in a unit Vol)
○ Operational Life of Battery.(Needs to Increase)
○ Recyclability of Battery(Environmental Impact)
○ Cost of Battery(Needs to Decrease)
Technological limitation
● Charging

Time taken to Charge V.S Refuel at Pump (Very High)

Environmental impact cannot be improved if renewable sources of

energy generation are not implemented only emissions are displaced
from distributed city environment to the power plant.

Availability of Emerging Technologies in India is very less as investment into

Research is restricted to Govt funded Institutes.

We will discuss these in detail in this presentation.

Economical Limitation
Currently a Middle Segment Electric vehicle costs more than its IC Engine
counterpart.

The Cost of conversion of Electric Infrastructure for India as a country needs to be

considered:

Creation of Pan - India Charging Infrastructure is estimated to be close to 4.5 Lakh

Crore rupees by various think-tanks.

ONGC, BPCL, HPCL are profitable PSU’s, largely retail fuel suppliers and
complete conversion to electric will affect their business model.
Economic Limitation
50% of India’s Industrial Output is generated by the automotive sector arranged
for I.C Engine technology and converting to Electric will result in major change in
the Industry.

Less Manufacturing of Spare parts and Unavailability of trained mechanics to deal

with electric vehicles.

Import of electronic components from China and other states will lead to loss in
crucial Forex Currencies.
 CHARGING STATIONS
• Electric charging station is an element in
an infrastructure that
supplies electric energy for the
recharging of electric vehicles,
such as
plug-in electric vehicles, including
electric cars, plug-in hybrids, etc.
• Charging stations are inevitable part of
electric vehicle ecosystem.
• In case of India, with road network of
54,72,144 kilometers, the country needs
nation wide network of charging stations
for electric vehicles as government is
planning to sell only EV’s by 2030
 MODES OF CHARGING

● Conversion from AC to DC
using rectifier.
● Use of superchargers to
deliver high voltage, high
current DC electricity directly
to the EV’s battery, bypassing
the onboard rectifier.
● Mahindra Reva are using the
fast charging technique
available in Kempe gowda
International airport Bengaluru
 Levels of charging stations.
● Level 1, 120 Volt Charging: The slowest
form of charging. Uses a plug to connect to
the on-board charger and a standard
household outlet. This setup provides
between 2- 5 miles per hour.
● Level 2, 220/240 Volt Charging: Provide
power at 220v or 240v and up to 30 amps.
Drivers can add 10-25 miles of range in an
hour of charging at home or at a public
station.
● Level 3, 480 Volt Charging: Some refer to
this charging as DC Fast charging. In this
case, the charger is a gas pump sized
SOLAR POWERED CHARGING STATION •

● Charging stations can also be

powered by solar energy.
● Number of solar panels can be
placed on roof of charging station.
This solar panel will deliver power to
charging point.
● Use of solar will reduce load on
power grid and will also save
considerable amount of fossil fuel
used
● Full charging time of batteries depend on type of battery being used in the electric vehicle. An
average of five hours is required even today for charging lead acid battery fully. Giving
examples, the charging of electric vehicles are done in domestic service areas like house
and office. The AC supply type provided will be converted to relevant DC supply type for
charging purpose. Also DC supply stations are established in countries like United States and
United Kingdom for reducing the charging time of batteries.
● General opinion given on electric vehicles feels that, the usage of charging time by it is more
which makes them non-convenient in usage. They have to charge the batteries overnight,
office time, whenever they want to roam within the city limits. If the battery gets depleted fast,
then the vehicle will become non-usable. So the consumers of electric vehicles have to be
foresighted in charging the batteries for using the electric vehicle when required
 BATTERY
TECHNOLO
GY
 1. Safety – Thermal Runaway is the main concern in EVs. It
is a positive feedback loop whereby chemical reactions
triggered in the cell exacerbate heat release potentially
5 key resulting in a fire. Thermal runaway can be caused by an
2. Life Span -battery,
overcharged Two ways of measuring
too-high dischargebattery
rates,life span:
or a short
Performance circuit.
1. Cycle stability - Number of times a battery can be fully
Factors charged and discharged
2. Overall age - Number of years a battery can be expected
to remain useful before being degraded to 80 percent of its
3. Performance
original capacity- at
Batteries can be optimized for either high or
full charge.
low temperatures, but it is difficult to engineer
them to function over a wide range of temperatures
without incurring performance degradation.
4. Specific Energy and Specific power - Capacity for storing
energy per kilogram of weight is still only 1 percent of the
specific energy of gasoline. Battery cells today can reach
nominal energy densities of 140 to 170 watt-hours per kilo-
gram (Wh/kg),
5. Charging Timecompared with 13,000
- Long charging Wh/kg
times gasoline
present another
technical challenge and a commercial barrier that
must be addressed. It takes almost ten hours to charge a 15-
• No single technology wins along all six dimensions. Choosing a technology that optimizes
performance along one dimension inevitably means compromising on other dimensions.
• NCA technology, for example, is a fairly high-performance solution but presents safety
challenges, whereas LFP technology is safer at the cell level but provides a low specific
energy.
 Principle Li-ion
Batteries

● 1. Lithium Cobalt
Oxide(LiCoO2) —
LCO
Lithium Manganese Oxide (LiMn2O4) — LMO
Lithium Iron Phosphate(LiFePO4) — LFP
 Lithium Titanate (Li2TiO3) — LTO
Lithium Nickel Cobalt
Aluminium Oxide
(LiNiCoAlO2) — NCA
 Charging the
Batteries

● Voltage and current

signature as lithium-ion
passes through the stages
for constant current and
topping charge.
● Full charge is reached
when the current
decreases to between 3
and 5 percent of the Ah
rating.
 ● Charge rate of an Energy Cell is between 0.5C and 1C;
● complete charge time -2–3 hours.
● Recommended charging at 0.8C or less to prolong battery life
● Charge efficiency is about 99 percent and the cell remains
cool during charge.
● Some Li-ion packs may experience a temperature rise of

Charging
about 5ºC (9ºF) when reaching full charge.
● Full charge occurs when the battery reaches the voltage

the threshold and the current drops to 3 percent of the rated

current.

Batteries ● A battery is also considered fully charged if the current levels

off and cannot go down further. Elevated self-discharge might
be the cause of this condition.
● Increasing the charge current does not hasten the full-charge
state by much. Although the battery reaches the voltage peak
quicker, the saturation charge will take longer accordingly.
● With higher current, Stage 1 is shorter but the saturation
during Stage 2 will take longer. A high current charge will,
however, quickly fill the battery to about 70 percent.
Volt/Capacity Vs Time
• Li-ion cannot absorb overcharge. When fully
charged, the charge current must be cut off.
• A continuous trickle charge would cause plating
of metallic lithium and compromise safety. To
minimize stress, keep the lithium-ion battery at
the peak cut-off as short as possible.
• Once the charge is terminated, the battery
voltage begins to drop.
• This eases the voltage stress. Over time, the
open circuit voltage will settle to between 3.70V
and 3.90V/cell.
• Note that a Li-ion battery that has received a
fully saturated charge will keep the voltage
elevated for a longer than one that has not
received a saturation charge.
Smart Charging
 CONCLUSION
● As India is country with vast road network, if country wants to boost the
popularity of EV’s, it need to install as many charging station as possible.
● Installation of charging station is not a challenge, but lack of knowledge
makes it difficult to handle.
● Proper knowledge will surely improve current state of infrastructure.