Changing face of automotive industry: How prepared is Nigeria?
Most countries across the world are already phasing out vehicles with combusting engines. That means that in few years’ time, most countries will be operating on Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs), which use electricity stored in a battery pack to power an electric motor and turn the wheels.
Since these cars don’t run on gasoline or diesel and are powered entirely by electricity, battery electric cars seem to be better and greener alternative to fuel-driven cars. This is because irrespective of the source of their power – solar, hydro, wind, bio-fuel, or even nuclear – they produce zero carbon in operation.
For this, Electric Vehicles (EVs) have also continued to grow in the global auto market. Big manufacturers such as Tesla and BMW have pumped in significant amounts of money to boost research and development of EVs. And supporting this investment are the customers who are making the switch for a greener future. In Nigeria, the case is different as little or nothing has been done so far to welcome the electric car initiative.
However, the Director-General of the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), Mr. Jelani Aliyu has said that the solution to Nigeria’s automotive sector does not lie in the hands of anybody, group or individual, but that all should stand up and embrace it.
Aliyu, who also pointed out that the nation’s challenge is not lack of resources or funding, however, added that the issue with the sectoris lack of unbelief in ourselves.
Speaking at the automotive industry implementation and monitoring committee meeting with the theme: “2017 Review of National Automotive Industry Development Plan,” held at the Renaissance Hotel, GRA ,Ikeja, recently, he said that electric cars are the vehicles of the future, stressing that Nigeria cannot afford to be an island.
He said,“We have to move forward with the world. We have to look at the electric vehicle and give incentives and support to investors. Chevy Volts was very interesting in USA. There is a lot to be done on the part of government to see that they encourage new innovations. However, our progress will depend on team work and collaboration of Nigerians and friends of Nigeria.
Private sector operators are also envisioning a new paradigm shift and are aligning themselves with the business benefits derivable therefrom.
For example, Chairman of Nigus International, Prince Malik Ado Ibrahim, said there is an opportunity for Nigeria and Africa to start that next frontier, which is electric vehicles.
He said the only way out is to learn about the vehicles, learn about the engineering and be a manufacturer by 2040, when everybody else is now saying combusting cars are banned.
He said,We want to say keep your combustion engines; in fact, we are now importing any combustion engine, we have a nationally produced vehicle or a continental accepted vehicle’, so that was my push. Build Your Dream (BYD). Company spent about seven months doing some due diligence. We came together, we agreed on the way forward.
We just signed an agreement to first import either the BYD vehicles; look for a Nigerian brand, we are still looking at the name, that we want to use, and by 2020, we would start an assembly plant here, assembling Nigerian branded electric vehicles with all the modern accruement that you want in a car, Yes, it would have its DNA initially started from BYD; and BYD head engineer was the head engineer from Audi, so we know that it’s going to be a tremendous amount of creation of comfort and modernity in these cars and we are hoping that by the time we start assembling these cars.
According to the Ningus boss, “We would also bring Nigerian designers from around the world to come in and have an Africanized DNA in this vehicle as well. So, we are looking at competition for design. The beauty of our building an electric vehicle is that you are not looking at anything too complicated, you have got the drive, which is the electric drive and everything else is just the creation of comfort, of a high speed car or SUV and the buses also and we have the electric trains.
On Nigeria’s readiness for electric cars, the automotive sector expert said, “So, you can see it is coming, but are we ready? And that’s what I am trying to do, I want us to be ready, I want us to harness this technology, I want us to have our own DNA; and so the relationship with BYD is going to create that in a very simple way. Teachers have to assemble and then that give us the knowledge to develop a unique product for our continent.
That vacuum that would be left between when hydro carbon stops, to electric cars coming into play, is between now and 2030. I believe Nigeria should be in that position of leadership on the continent. So, Nigus is to develop this idea that by early next year, we would start importing the vehicles, we have a show here that we want to do on November 26, which would show case the car, the SUV, the bus; we are going to be showcasing the industrial applications which are tractors and forklifts. Even municipal vehicles like trash compactors and water trucks are driven by electricity.
On how to make recharging of these cars readily available, Ibrahim said, “We are also looking to a joint venture with NNPC with BP in South Africa. We are talking about hydro carbon companies redefining themselves to energy companies. When we sat with them in South Africa; we said why don’t you have these solar charging stations in your mega stations and it is the same thing we want to do with NNPC.
We are not going to have many of them initially; but as people begin to adopt and adapt to this, it is going to be something we will start seeing in people’s homes. Electric cars are here to stay; and if anyone is under the illusion that electrified vehicles are a novel idea, they have not only lost the bus they have missed what is coming in front of them and this is not time to field fiction.”
While putting the average cost of an electric car ranging between $26,000 and $100,000 for cars and trucks respectively, Ibrahim added: “nothing is different except for the running cost and you use it in comparable terms at the most 20% higher than the combustible engine car as far as the price is concerned.
However, the operational cost is far less. Servicing of engine, no fueling, no belt and the other parts of the engine that motorists regularly replace. The only most important cost component in the electric car is the battery.
He said his company is also looking at leasing batteries to electric car owners, in such a way that one can buy car without a battery and obtain battery on lease.
Meanwhile, there are plans already in India to replace all petrol- and diesel-fuelled cars by EVs by 2030s; while Norway EVs are the cleanest in the world as 98% of the electricity generated is sourced from hydropower. With a population of 5.2 million people, Norway registered 135,276 EVs in the month of December 2016.
As at the moment, Norway’s capital, Oslo, has dedicated bus lanes for EVs, along with recharging stations, privileged parking, and toll-free travel for people driving electric cars. The decision to make EVs a reality across the country began as early as the 1990s as an effort to curb pollution but now it’s primary focus is to combat climate change.
At the last quarter of 2016, Netherlands had recorded 113,636 registrations of highway-legal light-duty plug-in EVs. In July, Netherlands recorded a 5.6% market share of the registered plug-in cars per 1,000 people.
Over 100,000 plug-in EVs came out on the roads as of March 2017 out of which 4,500 were commercial vans. The huge increase in the sales shows how consistent the growth has been in the UK where only 3,500 units of EVs were sold in 2013.
For example, the adoption of EVs in the UK comes packaged with several grants and schemes that have now the British plug-in fleet the fourth-largest in Europe.
Europe, however, also imports EVs from neighbouring countries such as Norway as used cars. The top selling models of EVs in Europe between December 2014 and June 2016 included Mitsubishi Outlander P-HEV, Nissan Leaf, and BMW i3 to name a few.
By December 2016, the sales of EVs in the US were higher than they had ever been. Over 500,000 battery-operated EVs had hit the roads since Tesla Roadster’s launch in 2008. Today, the likes of Chevrolet Volt, Nissan Leaf, and Tesla Model S are selling in large numbers.
While early adopters of the EVs charge their cars at home, the USA has deployed stations across the country for public charging. Tech gurus are now planning to make wireless EVs a reality where with ‘inductive charging’, people can charge while driving! Similar to how some mobile devices charge themselves, the cars will use coils embedded in roads and refuel as they move.
Apart from country’s endorsement, manufacturers are also gearing up in preparation for the future of electric cars. For instance, Exactly 70 years after the debut of its first electric vehicle (EV), Nissan’s most advanced EV ever – the Nissan BladeGlidee sports car – took center stage at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK.
Nissan’s EV success story began in 1947, 70 years ago with the launch of the Tama. This pioneering four-seat EV was available as a passenger car and a van and offered customers a range of 65 kilometers on a full charge. It was initially developed by the Tokyo Electro Automobile Co. Ltd, which later became part of Nissan.
Since the debut of the Tama in 1947, Nissan has established a rich heritage in zero-emission technology as the world leader in EVs. It pioneered the EV revolution with the launch of world’s first mass-market 100% electric passenger car, the Nissan LEAF, in 2010.
The new second-generation LEAF will make its world premiere on September 6.
