Introduction

​

​

In this case study, we aim to understand how reducing energy poverty by way of expanding the share of cheap electricity from sustainable and renewable energy sources, affects the automobile industry. Building the road to ending energy poverty also solves various other problems on its way, problems such as high transportation costs and environmental pollution, as we have come to understanding in this case study.

This case study includes a valued interview with Mr. Jesus Sanchez, who is the head of the SAAB 91 project; an international project aimed at building an open source car, utilizing the latest, cleanest, and most sustainable sources of energy.

A single-question online survey was also conducted with the hope of better answering the question: If electricity becomes much cheaper than current rates, will people actually shift to greener electric vehicles?

​

Interview

​

To get a better inside understanding on the impact of cheaper electricity on electrically powered cars, we interviewed Mr. Jesus Sanchez who is the head of the SAAB 91 project; a project aimed at building an open source car which utilizes the latest, cleanest, and most sustainable sources of energy.

 

We asked him the following two questions:
1. Why did you decide your concept to be electrically powered?
2. Do you believe that people will go for fully electrically powered vehicles?

​

His reply was as follows:

Hello and thanks for your questions, to be honest I don't know if I am the first creating an Open Source Car, but I knew the idea was good and I wanted to do something new, I wanted people participate creating their cars and show the engineering departments of SAAB or other brands that the customers decide the products they finally want. We've been in a lot of automotive magazines worldwide so people were excited with the idea, and that's cool. The idea was basically that, make people build the best cars ever and moving away from the boredom of the engineering departments and corporate culture of many companies, always developing the same products.

During the development of the SAAB 91 we wanted all people decide what technologies must be implemented and we are not scared to explore bizarre ideas. For example, we are interested in a semiconductor paint to make the whole chassis of the car be a giant solar panel, get energy, store and use it. Imagine you park your car in a sunny day, and you are getting free energy just from the sun. Isn't that amazing? Quantum dot solar cells will be able to do that and more. So just imagine a paint that provides you also energy!

This is being researched right now, and can be applied to cars. It is the way how you envisage the future what makes it special. How you mix technologies to finally create something great.

More ideas we are studying are magnetic motors, in Japan this have been studied before but sadly there is not enough funding to invest in these new technologies and in the entrepreneurs to make them true.

Electric vehicles are the future; however the whole industry is exploring just a 10% of the possibilities. An electric vehicle is more than plugging it into the plug, charge it, and use it. It's more than that, our dream is free energy. And free is exactly what it means, free.

Yes. People will switch to electric powered vehicles, but the industry is not reacting well lately because people need to beat some barriers that are delaying the whole industry to grow efficiently. There are a lot of technical things that can be achieved and must be developed. People, customers want to be surprised with new ideas and new developments that make their lives better. Electric cars will provide us cleaner vehicles, and in the future, more efficient than conventional cars. The future is electricity, you can bet it is. Now let's make it affordable for the masses, let's get sources or free energy and let's move on.​

​

--Jesus Sanchez

​

Survey

​

A single-question online survey was conducted with the hope of better answering the question: If electricity becomes much cheaper than current rates, will people actually shift to greener electric vehicles? As explained before, reducing electricity cost via renewables with the aim of ending energy poverty, also improves other issues of the world like environmental pollution or climate change. But after fossil-fuel power stations, it is vehicles running on fossil-fuels that cause more pollution.

The survey included 30 people who owns a vehicle, familiar with costs relating to vehicles, and knows the basics of electricity supply and demand.

 

Q. If electricity becomes much cheaper compared to the current rates, would you want to switch to a fully electric vehicle which is capable of being charged at home? Assume the electric vehicle costs you just about that of an average car.
• Yes, if it is cheaper than conventional fuels. (22 / 73%)
• Yes, even if it is not cheaper than conventional fuels. (2 / 7%)
• No, if it is not cheaper than conventional fuels. (4 / 13%)
• No, as electric cars don’t perform well.  (2 / 7%)

 

Based on this simple survey, we could determine that a majority of people who currently own a vehicle, will actually make the switch to greener and environmentally friendly vehicles if the net electricity cost is similar to or below the cost of conventional fossil-fuels used by most vehicles.

Of everyone surveyed, 73% would go for electric cars if only if it cheaper than conventional fuels, while a surprising 7% said that they’ll go for it, even if it is not cheaper than conventional fuels.