The Case for an Electric Car

Ten. That's the number of hours of load-shedding The Nation says that Karachiites were protesting against today (12th October).
Five. That's the amount, in thousands, of Megawatts that Pakistan is facing a shortfall of.
Thirty-two. That's the amount in billion, of dollars, some report by some organiztion claims Pakistan needs to put in the energy sector to be able to meet demands uptil 2020.


Ok, so I am not good at this sort of dramatization, but you get the picture. Right?


In short, Pakistan is facing a gargantuan shortfall of electricity. And you must be wondering, what's wrong with this guy...carrying out a bloody propaganda in favor of an electric car, while giving stats against it.

That's how you define a nutter. But we aren't talking about me.

We are talking about the fact that while Pakistan does meet about 75% of its electricity requirements (15,000 MW production against 20,000 MW demand), and about 40% from renewable sources (8,000 MW from hydel), Pakistan can meet only about 15-20 % of its petroleum requirements. The rest is made up from a hefty import bill. About $12 Billion on petroleum and petroleum products.

The figures are staggering. And yes, I have been reading a newspaper article regarding our country's energy deficit.

But my point is that petroleum = bad. Electricity from renewable sources is good. And as the oil crisis (which may not be a crisis at this time, but we all know its running out) takes shape, the future is all electric. Renewable Electric.

We are looking at a time when solar cells and windmills become ubiquitous. They have to become ubiquitous; there is no other way (lets just rule out sources that are toxic, harmful to the environment, etc, etc). And when they do, the electric car can become the chief mode of human locomotion.

So, electric car is good. Buy it.

No...don't buy it. Wait for us to make it, optimise it, test it and bring it to market. That can take...some years...or some decades...or maybe some centuries. Hang on.

Emenence at ARG Design Competition

Good thing about EMENENTS is that the third letter is not I. Which means that if we claim emenence somewhere that doesn't necessarily mean that we were good.

At the Design Competition's first round - the last post I made was as a member of ARG - we fielded one-and-a-half cars. Or something like that. That we would have twice the chances of going through was tertiary at best. The governing motivation I described earlier, but allow me to redundantly reiterate: one car (kaar) for the present/near future; the prototype, with its electric driveline, for the futuristic and renewable energy future.

What, or rather how, we want to proceed with the two concepts is basically to encapsulate the same spirit which ARG is supposed to work. Instead of teams making different cars, we are teams working on chassis, body and drivelines, etc, giving us more focus in the fields our members have chosen. By a few causal relationships, that I don't feel like explaining, and which might be self-explanatory all the same, more focus means better cars and better engineers.

Where the ARG has stumbled, as it has been difficult to ignite the group as members are an eclectic bunch with generally diverse aims, EMENENTS would not.

ONWARDS EMENENTS!

ARG: Design Competition

The first stage of the Design Competition organized by the Automotive Research Group, at EME College, in a bid to raise the bar, or create one, with regards to College's participation in the Shell Eco-marathon 2011, was held on Thursday, 7th October.

Despite rumour's of a delay, and one team's insistence that their design would be plagiarized, it all went as planned. 6 teams presented their design, plans and progress: 3 each for the Urban Concept and Prototype categories. 4 teams seemed to want to rely only on the internal combustion engine, one each for a series hybrid and all-electric vehicles.

Electronic Fuel Injection was a popular claim. Simulations and final design stages was apparently the progress report. Here is a look at each of the teams:
1. Pakwheelers
Urban Concpet - Gasoline
The team that voiced fear of their ideas being copied naively presented the most detail in design. So much so that they were cut short slightly. While keeping to the Hybrid concept from last year, they said that they were aiming for an EFI system. This would complicate their circuitry, and we might see a repeat of this year's performance again. Anyway, their 'master stroke' was a rear diffuser for aerodynamic efficiency. Interestingly, EMENENTS (that's us) had already done preliminary CFD analysis with a rear diffuser. Despite their tantrums, they look among the favorites to go through.

2. Team Panache
Urban Concept - Gasoline
With their name as that of the GIKI team from last year, the hallmark of their design was a small sized CVT. They have a large team, with help from Post-Graduate students, but they also have lots of dead weight too.

3. Primus
Prototype - Plug-in Electric
They took the event in their stride, and impressed everyone, with a great presentation. With their focus on an all-electric vehicle, with everything in the right place, awesome computer simulations, experienced team, they have emerge as early favorites to go through.

4. Emenents
Urban Concept - Gasoline
Their focus was on simplicity and reliability, and the introduction of an EFI system. Captain Barbossa's presentation was generally thought to be better-than-expected, but I thought it was rubbish as usual.

5.
Prototype - Gasoline
This team didn't have a name. Apparently. Nothing very remarkable.

6.
Prototype - Gasoline
I forgot their name. But the presentation was in Urdu, which was nice to see. Less pretense that way. Going for EFI, and looking for a 'win-win' situation. Whatever that is.

What else:

• Mergers on the cards. My expert analysis says 4 teams could be given the ticket. 2 finances.
• A Quality Control team headed by Sir Fareed and a witch, to overlook the compliance to rules and overall quality of the vehicles
• Next round, with greater focus on design, to be held later this month

To Kaar or two cars?

It's slightly confusing. It's meant to be. The caption. Hope you didn't understand.

We at EMENENTS are thinking big. Thinking long-term. Now we are thinking of changing the world. Or some part only. Or some part of some part only. Or some part of some part of some part of the world only.

The idea is to develop Kaar as what it is supposed to be. Vehicle for the ordinary Pakistani. An interal combstion engine, gasoline driven car that we can bring to the market sometime in the foreseeable future. Smarter use of existing technology, as I like to point out ever so often.

But this is not where the idea ends. On the contrary, that's where it begins. The second part of the idea is to develop new technologies that are expected to be dominant in the future. More futuristic future.

And what, where and when are we looking at? We are looking at the depleting fossil fuel resources in the world. We are looking at the renewable energy future.

We are looking at an electric car. Our aim is to develop one as a prototype for Shell Eco Marathon, who have been kind enough to include the all-electric, plug-in category from 2011 in the event. In time, we would like to take what we learn into the present, via the urban concept category, onto Pakistan's road.

Ambitious. But that's us.

PS: now, I'd have to make some posts defending the logicale of the all-electric car too :-(

EMENENTS

A Flyer I tried my hand on. Didn't get approved by the EMENENT high command :-(

Emenation

You'd probably be wondering where did that team from Pakistan at the Shell Eco Marathon 2010 go. What was its name?Yeah...Bekaar. A useless bandwagon of useless people, with their Kaar.

Crouching under some desk. Hiding behind a tree. Embarassed. Ashamed. Disgruntled.

Errrrrr...No.

They have been busy. They have been busy changing their name. They are now called EMENENTS. That's a lot of work. They are back and stronger, better, faster, slimmer, fuel-efficienter, cooler, brillianter, higher, eminenter, and a whole lot more ******er (where ****** isn't necessarily a six-letter word, and isn't definitely a bad word) than ever.

The following goes on thier new website:
" The Shell Eco Marathon Asia 2010, held at the Sepang International Circuit Malaysia, saw our team’s emergence as one of the leading teams from Pakistan. While the engineering aspects of our vehicle would definitely have helped in raising the bar with respect to energy efficiency in vehicles, the Team ‘Bekaar’ and our vehicle ‘Kaar’ captured everyone’s imagination, with descriptions ranging from ‘interesting’ to ‘creative’ to ‘sporty’.

It was, however, decided that from this year onwards, the team would bear the name EMENENT, a name more representative of where we come from and what we do. It is also a statement of our commitment to a greater cause, which is to promote energy efficiency in our lives, find green solutions to our automotive problems, and eventually give Pakistan its very own fuel-efficient vehicle.

While there has been this change of name, the creativity and the resolve are still there. Our dynamism and the thirst for success is stronger than ever. The end of the last academic year saw a few of our members graduate. The ensuing recruitment programme not only helped us find new and vibrant members, but was also an assertion that EMENENTS will always be there to carry on the good work begun over a year ago."

No marks for guessing who wrote this.

Visit us: http://emenents.com/

Just so you know...

Kaar's Propaganda - At top left :-D