Factors Affecting Green Technology Implementation in Electric Vehicle Manufacturing

Running head: RESEARCH PROPOSAL
‘Going green is not that easy for electric vehicles’
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

1RESEARCH PROPOSAL
1. Introduction
Electric vehicles are a step towards sustainability. The purpose of introducing electric
vehicles was to reduce the usage of fossil fuel and reduce the emission of harmful gases in the
environment (Kushwaha and Sharma 2016). Tesla is the pioneer in the electric vehicle
manufacturing industry, which has become one of the major competitors of the conventional
automobile industry. Sustainability is a matter of concern in the modern world and with the issue
of climate change and global warming affecting the world, implementing sustainable practices
has become extremely important. Thus, electric vehicles are gaining popularity across the world.
Along with this, almost all the other industries are opting measures for going green. However,
the technologies for going green are still expensive and not much in practice. Manufacturing
process of the vehicles comprises of numerous factors as well as raw materials and equipments
sourced from various places and going green implies implementing sustainable measures in all
the stages (Larcher and Tarascon 2015). Thus, even for the electric vehicle industry, going green
for the entire process of manufacturing in a large scale and supplying has a long way to go. This
research proposal aims to explore the factors that affect the effectiveness of the electric vehicle
manufacturing industry in terms of implementing green technology and measures at a large scale.
Various literatures on the green technologies, sustainability and electric vehicles will be
evaluated to create the context of the study. The significance of the study lies in two aspects.
Firstly, it will contribute new direction of study on the sustainability of the electric vehicles and
its green technologies, and secondly, it will have implications of the electric vehicle industry and
its supply network on how to increase the implementation of green technologies to enhance
sustainability measures.

2RESEARCH PROPOSAL
The aim of this research study is to explore and evaluate the factors that influence the
effectiveness of the electric vehicles in terms of implementing sustainability by applying green
technologies in its manufacturing and supply chain network and logistics. The study will also
evaluate the challenges that can arise while implementing green technologies in the entire
manufacturing and supply process of the electric vehicles so that measures can be taken to
address those challenges.
The objectives of the research are:
 To review the manufacturing and supply chain logistics of electric vehicle industry
 To explore the green technologies used in electric vehicle industry and their effectiveness
 To assess the challenges in going green for the electric vehicles
 To recommend ways to mitigate the impact of the challenges in implementing sustainable
practices
2. Literature review
Global warming and climate change are two biggest environmental issues that have
become a concern for the world. The continuous increase in the greenhouse gases have been
affecting the nature of the planet and along with that, all the ecosystems and economic and social
stability are affected. Thus, all the political powers are now taking measures to reduce the
greenhouse gas emission and reduce the impact of environmental damage due to human
activities. In this regard, the issue of sustainable development has emerged. Apart from
environmental damages, the social and economic stability of life also need to be restored to
ensure better living of the future generation. Therefore, all the industries are now focusing on
achieving the sustainable development goals developed by the United Nations.

3RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Automobile industry is one such industry that contributes significantly in the depletion of
fossil fuel reserves and increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. According to a report by
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of United Nations, in 2016, only in the USA, the
transport sector contributed 28% of the total GHG emissions and a typical passenger vehicle
emits around 4.6 metric tons of CO2 per year (Epa.gov 2017). To reduce the usage of fossil fuels
and reduce the carbon emissions from the automobiles, the electric cars were developed. The
manufacturing of electric cars is significant in the manner that this is a big initiative towards
sustainability. Almost all the major car manufacturing companies are launching new models of
electric cars in the market, however, the conventional automobiles still dominate the market. The
technology used in electric vehicle manufacturing is innovative, highly advanced and quite
expensive, and therefore, the cars are still not much on the roads till now. Although the vehicles
are aimed at reducing the environmental damage and increase sustainability, yet there are some
issues that are not sustainable and have been throwing challenges to the industry in achieving its
goals.
As highlighted by Hardy (2018), the electric cars are regarded as green technology as
these cars are aimed to reduce the CO2 emissions by half in comparison to the diesel cars by
2030. Air pollution caused by the diesel cars is causing 40,000 deaths on an average in a year in
the UK and hence, these cars need to be phased out and replaced by electric cars. Copenhagen
will ban all the diesel cars in the country by 2019. The electric cars are powered by lithium-ion
batteries and therefore fossil fuels are not used.
Faria et al. (2012) conducted their study on the assessment of the electric vehicles as a
personal mobility system. The authors compared the economic and the environmental balances
delivered by the Electric Vehicles (EV) and the Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles (ICEV). It