EVs lithium-ion batteries: Synonymous terms from the renewables thesaurus?

By Mr. Umair Nabeel, Renewable Energy and Environmental Entrepreneur

March 2021- So, here we are three months in to 2021 and the New Year eve seems like a flashback moment, not a distant event down the memory lane. And we all also happen to have recently witnessed the Chinese New Year or the year of the OX as per their rituals and traditions. The clock keeps ticking and the question we all must ask ourselves, where we stand as far as deliverables is concerned if the road map of the net zero emissions economy can be envisioned as practical on ground case study of project management. This particular article will be divided into two parts, a focus story and of course the global news desk. And I’ll leave my readers to connect the dots keeping the title in mind.

Focus/Cover story: Qualitative employment and local economic activity? Two electric vehicles household names, one a market leader whilst the other a pioneer in courier/delivery vehicles (switch to EV) backed by the world’s second wealthiest person together created/posted approximately 2,400 plus jobs over the last 30 days. The spread of these vacancies and respective jurisdictions, something that I’ve always argued as a key success factor of this industry show qualitative employment opportunities, one after the other. Hundreds of them, covering multiple engineering disciplines such as software, electrical, electronic, mechanical, chemical, power which then branch out into further core specialization subject areas, deeper than the depths of the ocean. And that’s not all, the unskilled workforce involved in an automobile’s exterior and interior mechanical works are also on board this ship. And these sailors are being exposed to new learning horizons at the same time, hence leading to in house capacity building. Would we not look at this as the missing link? Many global EV companies are involved and actively engage with universities in a process called “on campus recruitment”. Simply put it this way, this is defined as an integrated human capital development framework coupled with local economic activity. Connecting the dots doesn’t seem too hard or does it? 

Global News Desk: Italy, registered a sizeable increase in its lithium-ion battery based storage capacity (small sized ESS). Compared to where the number stood in March 2019, November 2020 encompassing the 20 month period in between saw a 100Mwh addition citing a recent report compiled by my colleagues at EUPD courtesy their very own “Global PV Installer Monitor 2020/2021” . A simple data analysis with further scaled units based breakdown would suffice in understanding where the battery based ESS industry is headed. Tesla is coming to India, as per recent media reports also confirmed by CM Karnataka. Bengaluru is the most likely destination for the entire integrated setup. Great Britain gives us a double header with Jaguar LandRover, announcing its policy statement towards an all EV switch. CEO Thierry Bollore confirmed this and I quote him “we have all the ingredients at our disposal to reimagine the business and the experiences our customers seek”. 2024/2025 is the set target for their first all electric SUV. Coventry City Council, part of the Combined West Midlands Authority has announced a £2bn lithium-ion battery local manufacturing project known as a giga factory in specific terms, said to be the largest in Europe. All preparations and related work is being carried out to ensure production kicks off by 2025 with approximately 4.5mn square feet of commercial space being allotted by Coventry Airport. This inclusion is strategic since it will pave the way for government funding, covering up to a quarter of the projected cost and fast track the process of relevant permits. And the city council calls this “the green industrial revolution “ .

A lot more that can be shared, many interesting bits remain that can be covered but instead of scrambling them in, until next time. Perhaps in a slightly different format, I can present the world of lithium-ion batteries and electric vehicles in a better and engaging way.