The Indian auto industry cannot ignore the early signs any more. Among car manufacturers, Mahindra already has electric variants in hatchback, sedan, light commercial van and SUV. Maruti Suzuki will have a joint venture with Toyota to produce small electric cars. Hyundai is developing all electric passenger cars; Renault is bringing out its popular hatchback in electric; Honda, that expects EVs to be 65 per cent of its car sales by 2030, plans to set up a lithium ion battery manufacturing facility in India; Nissan will launch its electric hatchback in 2018; Mercedes-Benz will bring electric cars from its global line up by 2020; Volkswagen, Volvo and Audi have announced electric variants; and, Tesla will also come to India.
| Why zero emissions vehicles make sense in India? India IS desperate to curb air pollution, strengthen energy security and mitigate climate impacts. Electric vehicles (EVs) provide these co-benefits. Official estimates show that India with ambitious EVs can save about 64 per cent of energy demand for road transport, 37 per cent of carbon emissions by 2030 and save $60 billion in diesel and petrol costs by 2030. An initiative by the NITI Aayog, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Rocky Mountain Institute estimates that with 100 per cent electrification, India can save R20 lakh crore and 1 gigatonne of CO2 emissions.
There are worries that while fully battery-operated electric vehicles have zero tailpipe emissions on road, their life cycle emissions depends on source of power generation—coal being the dirtiest compared to hydro and renewable energy. But life cycle emissions intensity of electric vehicles can reduce substantially with more renewable energy infusion as per India's post-2020 climate action plans. The energy source of electricity can change flexibly if renewable energy expands. About 15 per cent of India's power is from hydro while renewables can expand to meet the target of 175 GW by 2022.
Moreover, centralised energy generation to power vehicles opens up better opportunity for pollution control at the source than decentralised emissions control of numerous tailpipes of combustion engines. Delhi-based non-profit Centre for Science and Environment estimates that if all the vehicles (except trucks) were to run on electricity by 2030, the electricity consumed will be about 110 Terawatt-hour or about 5 per cent of the total electricity demand of India in 2030 as projected by 2017 report of NITI Aayog. Likewise, the European Union estimates that EVs will consume 9-10 per cent of their total electricity demand by 2050, when 80 per cent of vehicles can be electric.
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Several electric two-wheeler producers including Hero Electric, Lohia Auto, Electrotherm, Avon, Indus, Tork Motorcycle and Ather Energy, are already selling. Honda, Bajaj Auto Ltd and TVS are promising new products by 2020. But electric two-wheeler sales have not picked up to the desired extent in India. Most models do not measure up to consumer expectation of power and performance. A total of 19 of the 24 two-wheeler models in the market are low speed scooters, with a maximum speed of 25 km/hour and maximum power output of less than 250 watts.
Electrical engineering has a bright future even with automation increasing. As an electrical engineer, I’ll outline how this industry will continue to grow.
I’ll dive into the history of electrical engineering. Also, where the industry stands today.
And I know. There’s a lot of talk about machines, robots, and AI taking over the world. I’ve heard it countless times.
Even more, I often hear asked if electrical engineering jobs will soon disappear. To put it bluntly, the concern comes from misinformation and click bait articles.
I’m going to go over why you should dismiss this imagined dark reality.
The future impact of automation on electrical engineering
I can see this dark future as a reality one day. In the distant future, most jobs we know today will disappear. No one can argue against this if tech continues to advance as it is today.
I’m talking about over 200 years from now though. But, until that day comes, I see many jobs created through advanced tech.
As an example, in the 18th century, we had the industrial revolution. New advanced machines created many new jobs.
This went against the belief that machines would leave everyone jobless.
Even 40 years ago we couldn’t have guessed a teenager could become a millionaire through their TV. A teenager sitting in their parent’s basement playing video games all day.
A brief history of electrical engineering jobs
By learning history, we can better predict the future job market.
I’m always fascinated by how the profession has evolved over the years.
Electrical engineering went from one focus to a profession with countless specialties. Today, the profession employs 300,000 plus Americans. This according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
I’m sure this figure includes a lot of non-engineers too. But still, a significant figure.
The early history of electrical engineering jobs
In the late 19th century, an electrical engineer worked on the new electric telegraph. This became the first professional electrical engineering profession.
Back then, electrical engineering had limited specialty jobs. But, it had a promising future.
The communication industry had sparked a new job market. Thus, more electrical engineers found employment.
Near the same time, Werner von Siemens gave us the industrial generator.
He created a new industry out of thin air. Power utilities had formed. Their mission was to bring power to homes and businesses.
As a result, the U.S. power grid began to grow fast. Very fast. The power grid had to reach more and more people who craved electrical power.
Electricity had become plentiful and accessible to everyone. Like the discovery of fire, electricity transformed life.
In short, the power grid grew from one pocket of America to connecting almost all America. Again, this growth sparked many new technologies.
I see this in California today. Industrial growth always requires constant maintenance and innovation. This leads to more projects and jobs.
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