86 grams
Martin Jančo, CEO of our company M2M Solutions, followed up on an article he wrote in 2020 about Tesla and its revolution in the automotive industry. In his new article, he continues the topic of electromobility from the perspective of M2M Solutions and Slovakia:
Although some of my predictions in the previous article are off by a year or two, Tesla has since become the most valuable car company in the world and its market value is approaching the level of tech giants like Google and Apple, which are completely outside the automotive industry. Last year, Tesla managed to produce almost one million cars (more than Skoda Auto, for example) and put an end to debates whether it is just a market-inflated start-up or not. Today I want to continue on this topic, however from the perspective of us, M2M Solutions and our country, Slovakia.
Unfortunately, when it comes to adoption of electromobility, Slovakia is almost last in Europe. What a pity! Arval BNP Paribas survey says that only 30% of companies in Slovakia are using or considering buying electric cars or hybrids in the next three years – that is the second lowest share in Europe right after Russia.
Why is the support of electromobility an important topic and why should we concerned ourselves by it?
There are several reasons:
Slovakia is an ideal candidate for adoption of electric cars due to the significant share of nuclear power in production of electricity. People usually charge cars at night, when large surpluses of electricity are generated. Since we cannot turn the nuclear power plant off and on as we need it, these surpluses are currently being wasted for money, in order to ensure the stability of the grid. If we had enough electric cars, these surpluses would charge them and state would make some money too.
Government would save on operating costs for state owned cars.
We need to retire diesel cars as soon as possible. Many people still do not know what is wrong with diesel cars, so I will try to explain the problem. It is not about the production of CO2, one of gases causing global warming, because the amount of CO2 produced by a diesel engine is comparable to the amount produced by a petrol engine. What then is the problem with the diesel engine? It is the production of nitrogen oxides (or NOx for short), gases several times more dangerous than CO2 – diesel engines produce several times more NOx than their petrol counterparts. NOx pollutes the air and causes respiratory diseases. This problem became apparent in London, where air pollution levels in the city rose to such extreme levels over the past decade that they even threatened to evict certain areas. An expert task force of scientists working on the solution of this problem found, that it was caused by diesel cars.
We must protect the environment. It is very important that we do as little harm to ourselves as possible, so this reason certainly deserves our attention. Global warming is a phenomenon that already clearly affects us, and what is happening now is only a prelude to much bigger problems that await us in the future.
We need to reduce the consumption of petrol and especially diesel. We know the current situation in the EU and particularly in Slovakia. We need to reduce our consumption and, therefore, our dependence on energy carriers we need to buy from Russia or other countries. Satisfying the consumption of diesel will be the main problem, especially if we will produce fuels from non-Russian oil. Most of diesel consumed in Europe is produced from Russian oil – European market is highly penetrated by diesel passenger cars due to lower operating costs that brought about their popularity. This problem will subside eventually, as the popularity of diesel engines has long been in decline, but it will take some time.
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The low interest in buying electric vehicles (EVs) is not only related to the purchasing power of Slovaks. I think, that the main problem is zero state support. Neither previous nor current government considers the subject of electromobility to be their priority. At the same time, solution of many current problems (oil supply, diesel consumption, the Green Deal) would be much easier if EVs at least started to decently penetrate the market, as is the case elsewhere in Europe.
What should the Government do? First and foremost, the government should prepare global and easy-to-apply support for the purchase of EVs. Next step would be complete ban on purchases of non-green cars for government purposes. If, for example, the Police invested into electric cars, the investment would surely return after 2-3 years when compared to standard cars, as police cars are constantly used and need a lot of servicing.
At the same time, the government should encourage the construction of charging stations far more vehemently than it does today. In the future, pressure from the European Union will certainly help, so I believe that the charging network will be sufficient sooner or later. The question is, who will pay the cost - EU funds or the state budget?
What do we at M2M Solutions do about nature and harm we humans do to ourselves?
First and foremost, we have to say that we embrace ecology as we have been building our company fleet of eco-friendly vehicles for a long time. Our company currently owns 5 cars - 4 hybrids and one electric. Our fleet has an average CO2 emission value of 86 grams per kilometer (g/km), far below the limit prepared for the carmakers for next year. EU targets set for passenger cars sit at 95 g/km, that means that we are already in the future and we have managed to save almost 10 percent more!
It makes us very proud, but it does not end at that. We love as we drive downhill with zero consumption, but we even manage to produce energy. Needless to say, these cars also have very good driving economy, which compensates for higher acquisition cost. Admittedly, the economics work out best for our electric car, but hybrids are not bad either and from economic point of view they clearly beat modern diesel cars as well. I think it is important to remember that the world owes hybrids to Toyota, which has been manufacturing them for more than 15 years.
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I had almost forgotten the most useful thing we contribute as a company to reducing our carbon footprint. We recognize the power of social responsibility. In my opinion, our main environmental contribution is our solution Transport Logistics System (or Dock & Yard Management System). Truck navigation made by M2Ms incorporates two eco-friendly ways that help protect both the air we breathe and our health. First, by optimizing transport capacity, we ensure that trucks do not run up and down without being utilized properly. Diesel is thus used more efficiently and fewer emissions are being produced. Second - reducing truck downtime itself and improvement of their utilization means we contribute to fewer trucks on the road, which in turn has a positive impact on transport speed and reduces the likelihood of traffic jams, the bane of truck fuel consumption. Did you know that a truck in a traffic jam moving at 20km/h produces twice as much CO2 as one travelling at around 80km/h? When the speed drops to 10km/h, the amount of emissions quadruples.
Finally, one interesting fact from the world of aircraft engines, as they also face pressure to reduce emissions. Hybridization, or addition of electric engine utilizing lithium battery into petrol powered systems, also seems to be very successful too. This should lower the fuel consumption by up to 30 per cent – that is great. As we can see, the same technology works in completely different areas. The most environmentally friendly conventional aircraft at the moment is probably Airbus 321 NEO and I feel honored that I had the privilege to try it already. However, I am looking forward to something that will put to shame even the fuel consumption of the aforementioned Airbus, which is just 2.2 litres per passenger per 100 km - I'm looking forward to my first flight in a hybrid!