Arvind's Newsletter

1.Emerging EV vs Hybrid battle in passenger car market in India

Against the backdrop of the ministry of heavy industries (MHI) setting up a task force to design a road map for the country’s electric vehicles and amid states such as Uttar Pradesh registration fee for hybrid cars, R C Bhargava, chairman of Maruti Suzuki (an interested party) says in an interview with Surajeet Dasgupta of Business Standard, “ Hybrids emit less carbon compared to battery powered electric cars”. Read on.

And Economic Times opines on the question,“EV race: Are hybrid vehicles getting in the faster lane?”

The Indian car industry's race to an all-electric future might encounter a bend in the road. India may not head straightaway to an EV (electric vehicle) future. The road to green mobility might pass through a hybrid patch. Uttar Pradesh, the second-biggest sub-national market for cars, has waived registration levies on strong hybrid and plug-in vehicles.

Currently, there are only five strong hybrid models available in the market, two of which are offered by Maruti Suzuki. Those models are also cross-badged by Toyota under different names. Honda City, meanwhile, is the only strong hybrid variant outside of the Toyota-Maruti arrangement.

Sales of hybrid cars and SUVs have grown at a faster pace, narrowing the market-share gap with EVs, ET has reported recently. Hybrid electric vehicles are expected to see a 38% growth at 22,389 units, capturing a market share of 2.1% compared to EVs, which will see a slight decline of 0.2% to 27,242 units. Plug-in hybrids will grow by 13%, from a small base to 35 units, according to fiscal Q1 estimates by Jato Dynamics.

This is still early days and lets us see how Major EV players Tata Motors and M & M respond in the days to come.

2.H2GO: Reliance, L&T, Adani and John Cockerill Greenko to manufacture electrolysers in India by 2025.

Over half the eight companies that won bids in January for electrolyser manufacturing under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, have conveyed to the government that they will be able to commission their units by next year, ahead of the 2026 deadline, said people aware of the development.

This will be a boost to India's green ambitions as electrolysers are essential for green hydrogen production.

John Cockerill Greenko Hydrogen, L&T Electrolysers, Reliance Electrolyser Manufacturing and Adani New Industries see their manufacturing units ready by 2025.

3.Rechargeable batteries come at an environmental cost

They appear to be a growing source of forever chemicals.

Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries used in everyday gadgets, electric vehicles, and to store renewable energy could be a growing source of the “forever chemicals” that pollute soil and waterways, new research suggests.

“Forever chemicals” encompass thousands of different kinds of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). For decades, they’ve been used to make products more resistant to water, stains, and heat. More recently, a particular subclass of PFAS called bis-perfluoroalkyl sulfonimides (bis-FASIs) has been used as electrolytes and binders in lithium-ion batteries.

Those bis-FASIs are now showing up in soil, sediment, water, and snow surrounding manufacturing facilities, according to research published yesterday in the journal Nature Communications. The study authors also found bis-FASIs in liquids that leached from landfills.

4.AI is the hottest buzz word today (Remember Dot com?) but what is AI? MIT Technology Review’s Will Douglas Heavan explores the topic.

“AI is sexy, AI is cool. AI is entrenching inequality, upending the job market, and wrecking education. The AI boom will boost the economy, the AI bubble is about to burst. AI will increase abundance and empower humanity to maximally flourish in the universe. AI will kill us all.

What the hell is everybody talking about?

Artificial intelligence is the hottest technology of our time. But what is it? It sounds like a stupid question, but it’s one that’s never been more urgent. 

If you’re willing to buckle up and come for a ride, I can tell you why nobody really knows, why everybody seems to disagree, and why you’re right to care about it. Read the full story.

5.New fiber optic network transmits data at speeds above 400 terabytes per second, passing the current record by nearly 33%.

An international team of researchers have smashed the world record for fiber optic communications through commercial-grade fiber. By broadening fiber’s communication bandwidth, the team has produced data rates four times as fast as existing commercial systems—and 33 percent better than the previous world record.

The researchers’ success derives in part from their innovative use of optical amplifiers to boost signals across communications bands that conventional fiber optics technology today less-frequently uses. “It’s just more spectrum, more or less,” says Ben Puttnam, chief senior researcher at the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) in Koganei, Japan.

6.Why it is right time to rethink retirement age opines Geoff Poulton in Roland Berger magazine.

People are living longer than ever before. Yet even as older people are establishing themselves as a growing social and economic force, the public and private sectors are still working to overcome the hurdles of bias and unlock the potential of a new demographic era.

When Joe Biden announced he would run for reelection in the 2024 US presidential race, one topic soon grabbed headlines: his age. If Biden is reelected in November 2024, he will be just two weeks short of his 82nd birthday. Many Americans believe that is too old for the grueling demands of one of the world's most high-profile, high-pressure jobs. But at a time in which we are living longer, healthier lives than ever, could this simply be unconscious bias at play – a reflection of what may be the last acceptable "ism": ageism?

Longevity and our attitudes toward age are topics that require increasingly urgent attention. "I'd go as far as saying the dramatic changes we'll experience in demographics over the next few decades is probably the number two issue the world is facing, after climate change," says Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, a researcher and author who works with the UK's National Innovation Centre for Ageing and Stanford's Center on Longevity. Read on

7.Gig work is becoming the “new normal” in China as companies downsize and economic growth slows.

 About one in seven college graduates this year opted to be “flexibly employed,” with freelancers, delivery and ride-hailing drivers, and livestreamers being the most common gig jobs, the South China Morning Post wrote. 

The trend has led to calls for Beijing to further support the gig economy with benefits and labor rights protections; one study in a government-backed journal even suggested authorities should “actively guide college students into flexible employment.” The country is grappling with a larger unemployment headache in traditional white-collar jobs: More than half of China’s leading firms downsized last year.

8.Denmark is offering free meals to tourists who pick up trash.

Visitors who clean the harbor and ride bikes are offered museum tickets and free meals as Copenhagen, the green Danish capital, tries to reduce the impact of tourism.

Denmark may be using a carrot approach to persuade tourists to vacation responsibly, but this Spanish city (Barcelona) is grabbing sticks (e.g. Squirt guns) and wants visitors (“bad tourists”) to go away altogether.