Global shift towards electrification of the e-mobility sector

In an exclusive interview with Asia Business Outlook, Beat Kreuter, Director, Global Operations, DEKRA Certification BV, shares his views on how e-mobility industry overcome Data security concerns, strategies to address Economic and infrastructural barriers, solutions for sustainability issues and more. Beat Kreuter brings experience from previous roles at Nemko AS, DEKRA Testing and Certification China Ltd. (former KEMA Quality), DEKRA Testing Services (Zhejiang) Ltd. and DEKRA Certification, as well as a robust skill set that includes Quality Systems, ISO, Quality Management, Engineering and Manufacturing.

The e-mobility industry struggles to reduce carbon emissions and achieve CO2 neutrality due to reliance on renewable energy sources. How can these issues be effectively addressed?

When it comes to renewable energy sources, predominantly solar energy, the energy which comes directly from the sun and is indeed available without limitations; however, there are challenges involved in reducing the CO2 emissions to achieve all these goals. Some economies are doing better; for instance, they are pushing for it in Europe, and China is doing exceptionally well. As per the statistics, 50% of the cars sold in China are electric vehicles, which is a significant achievement to move away from traditional cars. Eastern Europe faces more challenges due to the reliance on renewable energy sources and the inability to transition. The reason is that the grid needs to be adequately equipped to integrate renewable energy sources, such as PV installation or wind power plants.

Moreover, the infrastructure needs to be fully prepared as European nations are struggling to provide sufficient charging infrastructure so that people are encouraged to go into that transition towards e-mobility. In the case of the USA, the share of electric vehicles being sold in California has reached 25 percent, which is a significant achievement, and they have measures to promote the transition to electric vehicles. Overall, the challenges are there in relying on renewable energy sources partially because of the challenge of integrating renewable energy sources into the existing grids, which are not for distributed renewable energy sources. Besides, there are challenges in building up that infrastructure network, which is essential as people can seamlessly charge their cars and take them away. More importantly, in many economies, the support of the government is crucial to push sustainability initiatives.

Data security, algorithm reliability, and high implementation costs hinder AI and ML integration in e-mobility. How can the industry overcome these obstacles?

Data security is a significant concern, especially in the e-mobility area. It's all connected. For instance, the electric vehicle is connected to a charger, to a backend and to grid management, which means communication is taking place, and whatever information is being exchanged is prone to security issues. Moreover, like other states trying to impact the grid, everybody has a commercial interest, which leads to security issues. Nowadays, everything is connected, and there are risks if communication needs to be adequately protected where somebody can interfere. Even GPS is interfered with or is prone to security attacks. The governments have recognized these issues earlier, and regulations have been enacted to address them. Several standards have been published, both international and national, to support the industry in addressing data security concerns, and these will not result in high costs. Initially, the process might have a high implementation cost. Still, performing something during a product or solution development is affordable, taking into account all these issues that might occur and fixing them afterward.

Earlier, it was extremely challenging for companies to comprehend cybersecurity, but nowadays, with many standards supporting the industry, it has become a normal activity during a product or solution development process. Hence, taking all these into account in the very beginning, knowing that there is a potential attack surface, it is much easier to address these issues.

Economic and infrastructural barriers slow e-mobility adoption in Asian countries. What strategies can effectively address these issues to accelerate the transition?

One Asian country, for example, China, launched a new energy vehicle policy just about ten years ago. In this policy, China recognized and established a path forward for the transition to electric vehicles, which the government supported with incentives to the industry to invest money and develop this new way of transportation. Besides, the market share of the Chinese brands sold in mainland China is now much higher, with approximately 60% of the cars sold in the domestic Chinese market being Chinese brands. Even the market shares for renowned traditional vehicles have come down due to the policy that China set out about ten years back to move into new energy vehicles, which was the right policy. The industry has been encouraged to develop electric vehicles and the necessary charging infrastructure to support them.    

China has a clear vision of contributing to carbon emission reduction. With its policy, it has a supreme position when it comes to electric vehicles, and it is close to achieving the target. Other major Asian economies, such as Japan, Korea, and India, are not so far from where they would have to be. There are reasons, including concerns about the correct standards for charging electric vehicles.

The e-mobility sector faces sustainability issues in EV battery production, recycling, and disposal. What solutions and advancements can address these concerns?

The e-mobility sector is not facing many sustainability issues regarding EV battery production. Many life cycle assessments have been performed over the years, indicating less environmental impact on electric vehicles than traditional vehicles. However, there may be challenges with an electric vehicle battery. Hence, once the electric vehicle reaches 200 000 or even 300 000 mileage range, it is no longer fit for the purpose, and what happens is that it is being pushed for those batteries inside the electric vehicles that are being repurposed for energy storage applications. To fully benefit from those renewable energy sources worldwide, there is a tremendous need to store the energy from photovoltaic systems or wind power plants. We cannot always immediately use that energy as it is being produced. During sunny days, there can be a lot of surplus energy in certain economies wherein large deployment of PV solar or photovoltaic installations occurs.

However, surplus energy cannot be utilized as produced energy versus used energy, or electricity must be balanced to keep the grid stable. One of the applications for second-hand EV batteries is to use them in energy storage systems, which means that electric vehicle batteries can be used for up to 20 or even 30 years. In the first two years inside an electric vehicle where, we have more demands with regards to the dynamic of the batteries, which means batteries have to be able to deliver a tremendous amount of energy once we accelerate the vehicle, and that's no longer the case once we utilize those electric vehicle batteries. For instance, in storage applications, there will always be an opportunity to use an electric vehicle for a second life where the battery is being repurposed for that application, and even once that second life is over, it is always possible to recycle the battery which contains a lot of precious materials that can be recycled.

Integrating renewable energy sources into e-mobility infrastructure is complex. How can the industry address these integration challenges to maximize environmental benefits?

Integrating renewable energy sources into e-mobility infrastructure is highly challenging. In certain economies with a fragile grid, adding all these renewable energy sources becomes complex. Electric vehicles are storage devices that can store energy, and based on need, they can give back energy to the grid. There is currently a complexity with regulations as we cannot just give the energy back to the grid; it is very sensitive and has to be managed appropriately. Also, it's about ensuring that the produced energy is in balance with the electricity or energy that is actually used. Hence, if they are going to go out of balance, then grid infrastructure collapses, so it is challenging to ensure the integration of an electric vehicle delivering energy back to the grid.

On the contrary, there is also a technical aspect of delivering energy back to the grid, as we must be synchronized with the grid itself. Energy should only be returned to the grid when electricity is needed. Returning energy during a surplus could stabilize the grid. Hence, there needs to be more technical aspects. For instance, if we look at the USA and European markets, every regulation is in the process of being changed, and the technical aspect of delivering energy back to the grid for electric vehicles and other renewable energy sources is being addressed.