How much (or little) do electric cars do for the environment?

Summary: Not much for emissions since there are other larger contributors to emissions, and the electricity for EVs need not be from clean sources. But it nonetheless helps the air of megacities.

Even if the ambitious targets of the world’s biggest economies are met, and internal combustion engines give way to electric or other zero-emission vehicles by 2040, the total impact on global carbon dioxide emissions will be minimal, according to a new study released Tuesday.
According to Laura Cozzi, the head of the IEA’s energy demand directorate, EVs will only displace 1% of expected global CO2 emissions in 2040.
Increases in emissions from air and sea transport will more than offset the savings from passenger cars unless new technologies can somehow make the same kind of impact on them as Elon Musk et al. have had on the car industry.
Such megatrends explain why countries such as China and India, which account for well over half of projected energy demand growth through 2040, are throwing billions of dollars at renewable energy: not so much to combat Climate Change, as to improve air quality in cities that are already choking, but which continue to attract millions of new migrants from the countryside every year.

More: http://fortune.com/2017/11/15/electric-cars-climate-change-iea/

Mahindra started with electric rickshaws

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd , one of India’s oldest vehicle manufacturers, is testing autonomous tractors, trucks and cars, while moving closer to bringing electric vehicles to the United States,
Mahindra & Mahindra bought Ssangyong in 2011 and Pininfarina in 2015. The Indian parent is collaborating with both companies on the development of electric vehicles, including premium models for Pininfarina that likely would compete with Tesla Inc .
In early November, Ssangyong said it had received approval to begin testing of autonomous vehicles in Korea, but did not say when it planned to produce them.
While work on the self-driving vehicles is still in the early stages, Mahindra & Mahindra has been building electric vehicles in India since the mid-1990s, when it developed a small fleet battery-powered, three-wheeled rickshaws for use in Delhi, the chairman said.
Mahindra & Mahindra bought Reva Electric Car Co, a small Bangalore-based manufacturer, in 2010 and transformed it into Mahindra Electric Mobility Ltd, which designs and builds compact electric vehicles for the Indian market.

More: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/india-based-automaker-mahindra-wants-to-sell-electric-vehicles-in-us-9424484

Testing self-driving cars in India

Earlier this year, local carmaker Tata Motors sought permission to test its driverless vehicle on Bengaluru’s roads.
A number of Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) are also working on such automobiles tailor-made for the country.
There’s been one major hurdle to self-driving technology in India: a legion of lawbreakers, from rash drivers and jaywalkers to cattle. But University of Michigan dean of engineering Alec Gallimore believes this isn’t an insurmountable problem.
“What I can tell is, there is a method to the apparent madness,” Gallimore said. “There’s no lane discipline, but there’s a lot of other things that have taken its place because you’re getting a lot of efficiencies.” The trick is to teach the machines to follow those unsaid rules.
In India, cruising down city streets and highways may not be the go-to but local companies can try close-circuit trials within college campuses, business parks, hospitals, and other gated communities, Gallimore says. Here, the cars would be able to manoeuvre local idiosyncrasies, though not at high speeds or with tonnes of traffic that could confuse the system.
Meanwhile, for all its benefits, there are fears that the technology will exacerbate India’s already jobless growth. India’s road and transport minister Nitin Gadkari has vowed to ban self-driving technology which could potentially steal jobs.

More here: https://qz.com/1133101/making-the-case-for-why-it-should-not-be-the-end-of-the-road-for-autonomous-cars-in-india-university-of-michigan-dean-alec-gallimore/