By Nathan Lawes<\/p>\n
Human innovation created the steam turbine and\u00a0the internal combustion engine, paving the way for the Industrial Revolution and\u00a0the horseless carriage (now known as the car). These innovations have made our lives easier,\u00a0but our planet less healthy and\u00a0our roads busier. China’s\u00a0increasingly innovative and influential<\/a>\u00a0but smoggy cities, that play host to some of\u00a0the world’s worst traffic<\/a>, exemplify this. But like the era of the Yellow Pea Soup in London, this is about to change and in doing so provides British industry with an array of opportunities. Cue the era of the electric vehicle (EV) and the underground charge park.<\/p>\n Innovation, innovation, innovation<\/strong><\/p>\n A recent\u00a0article in The<\/em> Economist<\/em>\u00a0<\/a>provides a solid solution for offsetting negative environmental impacts from technological advancements, suggesting that the best way to tackle global crises is by doing what we humans do best: “to keep inventing”. This will need significant political and financial backing, such as government subsidies for those wanting to produce and purchase cleaner, greener cars. Increasing demand and disrupting the status quo will help progressive newcomers establish themselves in the market.<\/p>\n Now that the Paris Agreement has been ratified by enough states worldwide, a significant amount of finance is being unlocked with the aim of tackling greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. This explains why the Chinese Prime Minister, Li Keqiang, believes innovation will be the top driving force for future growth. He cites\u00a0that\u00a060 percent of China’s economic expansion will come from advancements in science and technology.\u00a0<\/a>The combination of\u00a0ambitious government environmental targets<\/a> and a growing consumer middle-class (larger than the entire population of the United States) means that opportunities in China are abundant.<\/p>\n Like the monumental industrial advancements\u00a0that occurred during the 19th Century,\u00a0the upcoming Green Tech Revolution of the 21st Century will provide unprecedented opportunities of which\u00a0Beijing \u2013 along with the likes of San Francisco, Tel Aviv, Bangalore and London \u2013 is at the forefront. There is no finer example of this than the new-energy vehicle market and the sectors that complement this booming industry.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are living through a golden era in the automotive sector with new technology revolutionising almost every aspect of the car industry from the energy to drive a vehicle to the way that the vehicle is driven,\u201d says Peter Jostins, Senior Research Fellow at Coventry University.<\/p>\n \u201cEven the word driving seems to have been swapped for \u2018intelligent mobility\u2019 and car ownership models like \u2018electric shared self-drive car fleets\u2019 are now considered the future for city transport.\u00a0 Add to this the negative side of VW dieselgate, climate change, pollution in our cities and a reluctance of investors to invest in old technology companies and we have a sea change in the concept of motoring,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Enter the “Electric-motion steam car”\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Like the steam turbine and combustion engine before it, the electric vehicle (or\u00a0di\u00e0nd\u00f2ng q\u00ecch\u0113<\/em>\u00a0in Mandarin Chinese) will\u00a0shift the technological,\u00a0business and geopolitical landscape<\/a>, revolutionising how private drivers and corporate fleets around the world will operate. President Xi Jinping has subsequently categorised \u201cnew-energy and green vehicles\u201d amongst the most important strategic and emerging industries in China, after signs that the combination of research grants, infrastructure investments and consumer subsidies have started to yield results.<\/p>\n Xi\u2019s rhetoric was backed up by a commitment to inject $1.5 trillion to ensure Chinese firms not only curb pollution, reduce their dependence on imported oil and leapfrog traditional automotive manufacturing, but become preeminent players on par with US, Japanese and German firms.<\/p>\n Due to China\u2019s global dominance in rare earth materials (REE) they are also well placed to lead innovation in battery technology. These strategic moves \u2013 in solar, wind and now electric energy \u2013 have put China in the top spot as the largest state investor in green technology. Vital if the country is to use green energy to power the estimated 5 million EVs that will be on the road by 2020.<\/p>\n The new environmental and economic benefits of China\u2019s strategy gives us insight into\u00a0why EV manufacturers Tesla<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0VIA Motors<\/a>, are expanding into the world’s largest automotive market. Traditional car manufacturers are also expanding their offerings. BMW who recently launched their hybrid i3 and i8 cars are working with Chinese tech giant Baidu on electric driverless cars, and Apple has invested heavily in Didi Chuxing<\/a>, China’s car-sharing app that is making ride-sharing and mobility the increasingly preferred way to travel.<\/p>\n New companies and old are both clamouring to become market leaders as the size of that market is phenomenal. Gerald Page, VIA\u2019s China Director, stated that \u201cthe estimate of 5 million EVs forecasted by 2020, could easily double as China accelerates the installation of charging infrastructure with over $20 billion of approved investment from the Central Government.\u201d<\/p>\n Having previously underperformed in the sector, partly due to a lack of personal charging facilities, China is now likely to become the epicentre of competition amongst the new-energy vehicle players. International companies have started to enter the arena in joint ventures to help China tackle such challenges and to establish an increasingly sophisticated market. Currently, this has not provided any logistical problems with different charging stations and charging piles.<\/p>\n Tea leaf nations<\/strong><\/p>\n The United Kingdom too is another leader in the EV space. A fine example is Aston Martin partnering with Chinese tech giant LeEco . They are combining forces to launch the Rapid-E<\/em> in China by 2018. CEO Andy Palmer is so confident that he stated that Aston Martin is the true \u201ctrailblazer in luxury electrics\u201d and is now, he claims, in a league above US rival Tesla.<\/p>\n All across the supply chain British expertise can contribute to, and grow from, these opportunities across China. British research, design, high-tech and engineering firms are well placed. With funding from the government, the European Union and various car manufacturers \u2013 notably Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and Nissan \u2013 the UK is in a prime position to utilise its research and development (R&D) knowledge and industrial expertise in China. Currently, one in four European EVs is built in the UK. British financial institutions could further exploit the opportunities by following the lead of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffet\u2019s firm that invested in China\u2019s BYD Auto, the world\u2019s largest provider of EVs.<\/p>\n It is also fitting that Formula-E, the emission-free Grand Prix, began in Beijing and finished in London.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It’s worth noting, however, that it won’t just be the multinational giants that will shake up the new-energy market. After all,\u00a0it’s the smaller, more dynamic enterprises that account for most growth and job creation.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a>For example, Gloucestershire-based Ecotricity\u2019s has built Nemesis, the UK\u2019s fastest EV, powered by wind energy. The increased demand for such EVs will require a vast amount of green and efficient energy production in the UK and China alike. As such, firms that can predict weather patterns will be well placed to help Chinese energy providers better harness energy. As will those that are able to utilise convection energy.<\/p>\n Petrol stations will have to diversify to cope with falling oil sales and consumers having to power their cars with clean energy, in the meantime providing entertainment, food and beverages while cars recharge. Jostins of Coventry university, stresses the benefits of hydrogen-powered vehicles, which can be \u201crefilled in minutes\u201d. This means there would be \u201cno need to build whole new charging infrastructure because filling stations similar to gas stations are all that is required.\u201d This has been backed up the Automotive Council, which sees the UK leading the market in a diverse way and not merely limiting infrastructure to EVs.<\/p>\n Yet for all these known opportunities in China’s new-energy industry,\u00a0little has been said on the place where we park and, in the future, will charge our cars. For producers of new-energy vehicles and for the green tech mavericks, the development of charge parks could also prove to be a goldmine \u2013 especially as this vast project has\u00a0significant backing from the Communist Party<\/a>.<\/p>\n Everyone has a chauffeur <\/strong><\/p>\n Boston Consulting Group estimates that beyond EVs, the driverless car market will be worth $42 billion by 2025. Autonomous cars will reshape the industry, with far-reaching implications for governments and insurance firms that go beyond emission and traffic reduction: \u201cThe range of automotive development going on in the UK is staggering. It’s not just energy technology but driver assistance, autonomous vehicles, connected vehicles, drive by wire, new lighting systems, intelligent road signage, accident avoidance\u2026the scope is endless.\u00a0 Many of these are not just in-car technological developments but they require whole infrastructure changes, changes to policy and regulations, new levels of safety and require new ownership and insurance models,\u201d states Jostins.<\/p>\n Rio-Tinto, an Anglo-Australian mining firm, is already using driverless cars to shift tonnes of materials, as is the military to transport troops and search out landmines. Despite the likes of Uber, nuTonomy and Baidu, that have been piloting driverless EVs, JLR has bucked the trend as they do not consider their \u201cpassengers to be cargo\u201d. Yet in February 2016, JLR joined a\u00a0$7.9 million program<\/a>me, led by Bosch a German industrial firm,\u00a0to further autonomous driving research and development, aiming to gather data on driving habits and test vehicle communications technology.<\/p>\n Whilst many argue the technology for self-driving cars is already there, the challenges that still remain are mainly legislative. Setting the rules for autonomous vehicles (AVs) is rife with challenges, especially in regions such as China where the rules of<\/em> the road and the rules on<\/em> the road aren\u2019t always aligned. For example, if the driverless car is programmed to reduce speed when driving on a motorway to ensure a 70 metre gap remained between it and the car in front, the autonomous car in China would end up at a standstill as drivers would nop into the gaping gap left in front of the autonomous car. Likewise, programming cars to cause their own drivers to continue into an oncoming truck rather than allowing them to swerve onto a class of school kids on the pavement are decisions that are hard to make for both manufacturers and governments. However teams from both sides are busy at work and as more AVs hit the streets, it is expected that the number of car accidents will continue to reduce.<\/p>\n Start your (eco-)engines<\/strong><\/p>\n So, due to the\u00a0energised political will<\/a>\u00a0to go green (and a serious lack of space to park your car) British inventors and\u00a0entrepreneurs are being presented with a fantastic electric opportunity.<\/p>\n In an age of climate change and sluggish growth, governments should not merely be\u00a0pursuing\u00a0austerity (or retreating from the world), but should rather\u00a0focus on unleashing human ingenuity and creating partnerships in\u00a0priority markets. This approach helped ignite the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century, where economic growth was the bi-product of human dynamism and progress.<\/p>\n If the\u00a0Economist<\/em>‘s prescription of innovation is indeed the cure, we must continue to connect with\u00a0global\u00a0markets, transfer knowledge and pursue sustainable growth. The industrious folk who brought us the car gave us time, travel and connectivity. Today’s tech wizards have re-invented it to\u00a0suit the challenges facing the 21st Century, only this time without compromising the quality of our air and our water. Welcome to the Green Tech Revolution. Please remember to put your car on charge.<\/p>\n Fact box<\/p>\n By Nathan Lawes Human innovation created the steam turbine and\u00a0the internal combustion engine, paving the way for the Industrial Revolution and\u00a0the horseless carriage (now known as the car). These innovations have made our lives easier,\u00a0but our planet less healthy and\u00a0our roads busier. China’s\u00a0increasingly innovative and influential\u00a0but smoggy cities, that play host to some of\u00a0the world’s worst traffic, exemplify this. But like the era of the Yellow Pea Soup in London,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[127],"tags":[171,173,2427],"class_list":["post-2232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manufacturing","tag-ev","tag-manufacturing","tag-paywall"],"yoast_head":"\n\n