Electric Cars and Environmental Sustainability: A Jaguar Case Study

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INTRODUCTION OF ELECTRIC CARS IN THE UK FOR MANAGING ENVIRONMENT SUSTAINABILITY
- A CASE STUDY OF JAGUAR

Table of Contents
Table of Figures..............................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................. 2
PROBLEM STATEMENT.................................................................................................................. 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY........................................................................................................... 5
LITERATURE REVIEW......................................................................................................................5
DATA ANALYSIS..............................................................................................................................9
RECOMMENDATION.................................................................................................................... 19
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................... 20
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................21
APPENDIX.....................................................................................................................................24
Table of Figures
Figure 1: Jaguar I-Pace (Battery powered car)...............................................................................4
Figure 2: Deaths caused due to pollution....................................................................................15
Figure 3 : Nitrogen Oxide contributors........................................................................................16
Figure 4: Electric car sales figures in the UK................................................................................17
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INTRODUCTION
In the UK the pollution level has caused unprecedented health concerns. With the rising level of
particulate matter and other harmful gases like nitrogen oxide sulphur dioxide and carbon
monoxide, a large number of people are facing a risk of heart and lung diseases. There are over
30 million cars in the UK running on Petrol and diesel and the harmful emission by burning of
these fossil fuels is the primary reason for growing air pollution (Rezvani, et al. 2015). To reduce
the amount of the number of harmful pollutants people need to switch to electric vehicles.
Electric vehicles cause zero emission in the form of roadside air pollution and are witnessing a
sharp rise in the sales in 2018 as government planning to ban the diesel and petrol compatible
cars by the year 2040. Jaguar is one of the biggest cars manufactures in the UK and it has
launched its latest electric car model, Jaguar I-Pace in March 2018. This five seated luxury
electric car model is powered with a 90 kWh battery which can be fully charged in eight hours
of the plug-in. Electric cars can considerably decrease harmful emission in the atmosphere and
are also pocket-friendly for the consumers (Jaguar, 2019). Unlike traditional fossil fuel cars,
electric cars need electricity to charge the battery which comes at a much cheaper rate than
diesel and petrol. In addition, since there is no internal combustion engine, the expenses of oil,
spark plugs and timing belt is also saved which effectively decreases the overall expenses on the
car .
Critics argue that electric cars are not completely emission free and the power plants emit
harmful chemical in producing electricity. However, the amount of harmful gases produced by
these thermal power plants is much less as compared to the harmful emission by burning of
fossil fuels. In addition, some alternate sources of producing electricity like windmills and solar
power plants are also being used which will make these cars a completely emission-free vehicle.
People are also concerned about charging points for these cars. The government of the UK is
planning to manage funding at a local level to install charge point in both residential and non-
residential buildings. Government is also planning to install charging points at public places and
street light columns to ease the charging of electric vehicles (Lieven, et al. 2011). The British
government is keen to eliminate the fossil fuel using vehicles from the roads and develop an
infrastructure for battery-powered cars so that air pollution in the city area can be reduced.
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Electric cars usage in the UK is continuously increasing and in 2017, the electric cars sales
increase by 27%. The vision of the British government has far-reaching benefits as the future of
the present day cars is the hybrid vehicles powered by alternative fuels.
Figure 1: Jaguar I-Pace (Battery powered car)
[Source: Jaguar, 2019]
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Poor air quality in the city areas of the UK is a major threat to the public health. Nitrogen oxide
is the biggest culprit mainly coming out from diesel and petrol cars. The government of the UK
has planned to completely ban Diesel and petrol vehicles sales in the UK by 2040. In such
circumstances, electric cars come as a feasible solution to reduce the amount of harmful
chemical in the atmosphere and provide clean air to the citizens.
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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The research methodology used for the current report consists of collecting the primary and
secondary data so that some practical solution for the problem can be found. The primary data
will be collected with the help of questionnaires. Questionnaires have a set of questions which
are asked from the respondents. The questions have standardized and option and respondents
have to choose one response. The questionnaires can also be conducted online and through the
telephone. In the current questionnaire, the questions are asked from 100 respondents, these
respondents are the general customers as they can provide an outlook regarding sustainability
features of battery powered cars. The responses of the customers can be used by the managers
to make strategies so that electric cars can be offered to a large number of customers and the
awareness regarding battery powered vehicle can be increased (Van Vliet, et al. 2011). The
research methodology will also consist of a literature review which is used for collecting
secondary data. This data is called secondary because the facts presented in the literature
review are extracted from the literary works of authors and the article published in the
magazines and journals. The secondary data is a cost-effective method of collecting data but it
is necessary to check the reliability of data because taking data from out-dated sources will not
provide recent data which can make a negative impact on the outcomes of the research. In
addition, it is also necessary that proper credits are provided to the original author with the
means of in-text citation and a list of bibliography at the end of the research.
LITERATURE REVIEW
According to Gabbatiss (2019), road transport creates a large amount of air pollution by
emitting nitrous oxides and other particulates and is considered a major contributor to the
global warming phenomenon. According to research by the University of Oxford and Bath, the
air pollution caused due to cars and vans incurs a bill of around 6 billion pounds in the UK every
year. Vehicles running with diesel are the greatest pollutants in the UK. Battery powered
electric vehicles are considered much less dangerous to health as compared to diesel and petrol
vehicles. The study also revealed that the emission caused by diesel vehicles is five times higher
as compeered to the vehicles using petrol and as much as 20 times higher than electric vehicles.
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According to Skippo and Garwood (2011), although some amount of pollution is also caused by
electric vehicles in the form of wear on tyres and braking, however, this pollution is much less
than diesel and petrol vehicles as no tailpipe emissions are caused by battery-powered electric
vehicles. The report by the University of Bath stated that nearly 10,000 early deaths are caused
due to the pollution caused by diesel and petrol cars. Dirty air is the major reason for heart
disease and lung cancer and therefore managing environmental sustainability with the help of
electric cars has become an immediate need.
Jaguar is the leading car manufacturer in the UK and I-Pace is the new electric car model
launched by the company to reduce the carbon footprint and provide an environment-friendly
SUV to the customers. Jaguar I-PACE is the first luxury electric vehicle with the battery power of
around 90 kWh. The car is perfect for the customers who want to feel a luxury car will low
impact on the environment. The car comes with all luxury car features to suit the customer
needs such as 360-degree parking aid, heating and cooling systems, comfortable and spacious
seating arrangement and cameras for security. I-Pace comes with a high energy density battery
which has a smart thermal management system to provide uninterrupted power supply to the
car for sustained periods. The 50kW charger is compatible with most of the public charging
stations and can achieve up to 80 % charging in 85 minutes (Jaguar, 2019).
According to Wi, et al. (2013), the primary emissions caused due to petrol and diesel vehicles
are sulphur dioxide, nitric oxide, black smoke nitrogen oxide and other volatile organic
compounds. In addition, some secondary pollutants are also produced by the reaction of
primary pollutants and other chemicals present in the atmosphere, these secondary pollutants
include ozone, carbon monoxide and other organic compounds. These pollutants are a great
danger to environmental sustainability and cause a significant change in the wetland areas in
the Northwestern area of the country. Dijk and Yarime (2010), have a view that the acid
deposition in the fresh waters in North-west due to vehicle emission is detrimental to the
existence of flora and fauna in the area. Development of alternate fuel sources is the only
solution to fight these problems. Electric cars are zero emission vehicles and therefore they can
considerably reduce the number of harmful pollutants in the atmosphere caused due to the
burning of diesel and petrol. Less emission can make the urban area more healthy and clean.
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These cars also reduce the dependency of nations on fossil fuels and reduce the amount of
carbon emitted in the atmosphere. According to Rezvani, et al. (2015), from the year 1990 to
2010, In EU nations the CO2 emission caused due to road transport is increased by 23% Motor
vehicles in the UK are considered as major contributors to pollution in the UK. Estimates
present the figure that out of total carbon dioxide emitted in the UK by different industries, the
total CO2 emitted by diesel and petrol vehicles is around 19%. The nitrogen dioxide pollution
caused by diesel and petrol vehicles is also 51% of total emissions; therefore there is a need to
develop cleaner mediums of transportation.
According to a report by BBC (2017), considering the long term environmental and health risks
caused due to pollution by diesel and petrol cars the government of the UK has imposed a ban
on the sale of new diesel and petrol cars from 2040. The British government is also planning to
drive all such vehicles off the road ten years later by 2050. The diesel cars in the UK are blamed
for poor air quality in the city and this step by the government will drop down the sales in
Europe’s biggest market car market in London. Garcia and Lopes (2012), state that the ‘zero
emission vehicle summit’ in September 2018 launched a 400 million pound scheme to develop
charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. According to this scheme, various car charging
points will be established in motorway service areas and fuel retail points so that electric car
users can charge their vehicle conveniently. The program will also focus on developing reliable
standards to provide a uniform method of in accessing charging and refuelling points. The
government is also making sure that the houses in future are electric vehicle ready and every
home should have a charge point available. In areas where there is on-street car parking
provision, the charge points will be installed on the street light columns. The local planning
authorities also need to make sure that non-residential buildings have a charging point for
electric vehicles.
According to the website of Department for transport (2019), the British government has
formed an Electric vehicle task force which will improve the coordination between automotive
and energy producing companies so that they can work for better solutions to tackle the future
demand of electric vehicle. This also includes makes sure that electric cars are built in an
environmentally sustainable manner. The government will also launch a funding scheme at the
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local level so that infrastructure can be built to provide electric car charging points at different
places. This zero emission policy by the government is planned to be implemented by 2040 with
a mission to reduce the emission caused by diesel and petrol vehicles to the level of zero.
According to Klöckner et al. (2013), this ambitious plan of the UK government will make the
country a global leader in building cleaner and greener cities. The change has already arrived
with electric and hybrid cars hitting record sales figures in 2017. In 2016, in total 36,535 cars
were sold and in 2017 there was an increase of 27% in the sales of electric vehicles and the
total vehicle sold was 46, 522 (Woollaston, 2019). The sales figure for electric cars has touched
such an impressive number in wake of the announcement made by the government to ban
diesel and petrol vehicles by 2040. Looking at these trends the Jaguar I-Pace car model is
expected to achieve high sales in upcoming years. I-Pace is a fully electric car model which is
able to fulfil the demands of the customers. At present, the UK car market is providing a
number of options in the electric cars as leading electric car making companies such as Nissan,
Mitsubishi, Jaguar, BMW and Tesla have launched different models of city cars, family cars,
small vans and hatchbacks.
Guarnieri (2012), has a view that electric vehicles are very convenient to charge as electric
grids are available everywhere and customers do not need to visit a gas station to get a refill.
The charging can be done at the office or at home. The modern electric vehicle has enhanced
digital compatibility and they can also provide the facility for controlling the charging options
with the help of smartphones. Many people believe that electric vehicle cannot produce as
much power as internal combustion engines but it is a myth as this battery-powered vehicle are
very responsive and have excellent torque which can be used to accelerate the speed up to
desired limits. Papadopoulos, et al. (2011), argues that the traditional IC engines have a
complex arrangement to extract power out of fossil fuels and involve lots of moving parts. In
contrast, electric vehicles take power directly from the battery which is used to drive motors to
create motion. Fairley (2010), states that the maintenance of electric vehicles is also easy as
compared to internal combustion engines as it requires a number of oil changes to keep the
mechanical parts moving, On the other hand, electric vehicles have fewer subsystems which
make easy to maintain with minimum efforts. As battery technology is continuously improving,
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in near future, electric cars will be able to move farther with a single charge. Electric vehicles
are the ideal solution for growing environmental pollution and are seen as the future of present
transportation systems which is being adopted by the automotive industry with open arms.
DATA ANALYSIS
Current report has used a questionnaire to collect primary data and literature review to collect
secondary data. Data analysis is done to analyse the data collected from the primary and
secondary research so that a feasible solution can be found for the problem. In the
questionnaire, a total of 100 respondents are used; these respondents are the current electric
car users as well as diesel and petrol car users who can be the potential customers of Jaguar I-
Pace. The detailed analysis of the questions asked to form the customers are given below:
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QUESTION 1
Do you think electric car be a solution for
global warming?
Agree
Strongly agree
Disagree
Strongly diagree
Response Table
Agree 45
Strongly agree 25
Disagree 20
Strongly disagree 10
Total 100
Majority of customers who have taken part in the survey believe that electric cars can be a
potential solution to the problem of global warming. However, other than road transport there
are many other reasons for global warming such as industrial pollution and deforestation but
the biggest cause of environmental pollution is the burning of fossil fuels like diesel and petrol
and by the introduction of electric vehicles, the pollution caused by these factors is expected to
be reduced considerably (Dinger, et al. 2010).
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10

QUESTION 2
Less than
£15,000 £15,000 to
£20,000 £20,000
£30,000 More than
£30,000
0
10
20
30
40
How much are are you ready to pay for a
new electric car?
Response Table
Less than £15,000 25
£15,000 to £20,000 30
£20,000 £30,000 35
More than £30,000 10
Total 100
It can be seen by the responses of the customers that they are ready to pay decent prices for
electric cars and price is not a matter of concern. At present, the prices of electric cars are
higher as compared to traditional cars of similar capacity but it near future the prices of electric
vehicles is expected to come down as companies will achieve economies in scale (Helmers and
Marx, 2012).
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