[urajkumar]

The entire concept of Electric, petrol, Hybrid etc is a bit confusing to me. Call me ignorant but even for electric cars where does most of the electricity comes from? in India mostly from Coal which again is not forever. Now even though Solar, Hydro, Nuclear are getting bigger they are again dependent on other material which are rare or difficult to produce. Take the battery pack for instance, apprently it is said that the amount of energy spent to create a battery of such capacity (which again the source is mostly fossil fuels) is far more than what the derived benefits of using it battery itself. To me unless we find a radical easy and cheap method of finding energy (electricity) say from Hydrogen (Read water) happens, whatever we end up doing to "appear" environment friendly might not result in the desired result.

If I did live up my claim of ignorance, please correct me wherever i am wrong.

[DDIS]

Originally Posted by urajkumar

The entire concept of Electric, petrol, Hybrid etc is a bit confusing to me. Call me ignorant but even for electric cars where does most of the electricity comes from? in India mostly from Coal which again is not forever. Now even though Solar, Hydro, Nuclear are getting bigger they are again dependent on other material which are rare or difficult to produce. Take the battery pack for instance, apprently it is said that the amount of energy spent to create a battery of such capacity (which again the source is mostly fossil fuels) is far more than what the derived benefits of using it battery itself. To me unless we find a radical easy and cheap method of finding energy (electricity) say from Hydrogen (Read water) happens, whatever we end up doing to "appear" environment friendly might not result in the desired result.

If I did live up my claim of ignorance, please correct me wherever i am wrong.

Agree that the electricity produced is also from Thermal power stations, a lot of it in our country. Now, my answer to how green really are hybrids or electric cars are will be from Elon Musk's answer which is:
Even in the worst case scenario where electricity from the grid is from a coal powered plant, the electric cars' impact on the environment will still be lesser than of that of a petrol/diesel powered car.


Yes, the source of electricity does matter. But even if that is coal, when the electric car does run, it does not emit green house gases. So its more about greener tech than green tech.

I guess the bottom line is how you can minimize your carbon footprint and not about brining it to zero.

Example: We are installing a 2KW solar panel set up at home with a hybrid inverter. The order/priority of power source will be Solar, battery and lastly grid.

So it essentially means that we can be "off-grid" for about 12 hours a day or more, if battery is also used. Yes, it does cost 2.5 Lakh rupees, but the gains or ROI, I feel are long term. Trying to be greener.

Pardon me if that OT.

[DDIS]

Originally Posted by urajkumar

The entire concept of Electric, petrol, Hybrid etc is a bit confusing to me. Call me ignorant but even for electric cars where does most of the electricity comes from? in India mostly from Coal which again is not forever. Now even though Solar, Hydro, Nuclear are getting bigger they are again dependent on other material which are rare or difficult to produce. Take the battery pack for instance, apprently it is said that the amount of energy spent to create a battery of such capacity (which again the source is mostly fossil fuels) is far more than what the derived benefits of using it battery itself. To me unless we find a radical easy and cheap method of finding energy (electricity) say from Hydrogen (Read water) happens, whatever we end up doing to "appear" environment friendly might not result in the desired result.

If I did live up my claim of ignorance, please correct me wherever i am wrong.

This is a link which gives useful info on how green an electric car is, and how it varies from country to country:

http://shrinkthatfootprint.com/electric-cars-green

[Drivethru]

I have read about the concept, proto type and launch of Honda Urban / Vezel in Japan and US Markets. Honda has done well to slowly cement its position in the passenger car market with Amaze, City, Mobilio, Brio and the Jazz (upcoming).

I wish they could up the game, be bold and bring in the Urban which can compete (IMO) with cars and soft roaders one segment above and below. The Honda CR V is not bringing in any big volumes. Honda Urban I think can help Honda India start being seen as a serious player in the INR 18-20 Lakhs and above segment.


Mods, Kindly move / merge this with any other relevant thread. thanks

[V.Narayan]

Dear Team BHPians, Please share any information that you may have on whether Honda plans to introduce the Jazz Hybrid in India anytime over the next 12 to 18 months. Thanks - Narayan

[Anup25]

I think a lot would depend on the pricing of such vehicles, at the top end there would be people who would buy a hybrid irrespective of its cost but for the objective to be met volumes are required which is only possible if buyers see a value for money.

For this factors like import duties and taxes on components going towards making the electric components viable would be crucial. We will probably see more launches as & when crude oil prices move up and sops are introduced to bring in vehicles which run on alternates.