Are Electric Motor Vehicles Practical for Sri Lanka?

Long fuel queues which were a common sight in every town in Sri Lanka, have subsided considerably with the introduction of fuel quota system from the 1^st of August. Yet few sectors, especially that of three-wheelers have been complaining about the lack of fuel being allocated. When the fuel crisis was at its peak in Sri Lanka, a couple of months ago, many had shifted or were considering moving into alternative travel methods such as electric vehicles.

Electric vehicles are considered globally as a solution to the threats posed by global warming as these vehicles do not have a component which burns oil generated from fossil fuels to generate energy.

However, there are significant dilemmas and misconceptions about electric vehicles. We carried out an investigation about such misconceptions by exploring real-life scenarios with the support of Mahisanka Abeywickrama ,the co-founder of EV club – Sri Lanka, a volunteer group which aims to promote electric vehicles in Sri Lanka.

Also Read : Are you falling for these EV Myths too?

Claim: EVs are much less economical as they are costlier than the regular internal-combustion engine vehicles.

Fact: If you travel on a regular basis, EV vehicles are most cost effective as compared to regular fuel-based, internal combustion engine vehicles

Within the current situation of Sri Lanka, the price of moderate electric cars/vans is around 7-9 million LKR. The current prices of vehicles can be reached from here. Archived. This is a significant price increase compared to a few years ago. Due to the import restrictions in Sri Lanka, overall motor vehicle prices have escalated alarmingly, however, even on the global level, prices of EV vehicles have been on the rise. 

In the first half of 2022, as a result of the increase in global fuel prices, the demand for electric cars also increased rapidly. However, as the global fuel prices subsided during the last few months, the global interest towards EVs have also decreased recently. Yet, the price of electric cars has continued to increase over last few months and some of the reasons such as production issues, steep drop in inventory  as seen here

Mahisanka, the cofounder of EV club Sri Lanka clarified the facts that the price of normal electric cars was around 2-2.5 million around, 2020, before the import ban. However, due to the current fuel crisis, rupee depreciation and few other factors, the electric vehicles prices have gone uphill and expect the prices to go down with the end of the fuel crisis. He pointed out that within a normal situation, the EV vehicles are more cost effective than fuel vehicles if we consider the increasing fuel prices of the world market. “If you travel fairly regularly, that is around 3000 kilometers per month, the EV vehicle can be more cost effective than a fuel vehicle taking into consideration the high fuel cost and vehicle maintenance. But, imagine you go only very short distances via EV vehicle. Then, the fuel vehicles can be more cost effective.”, Mahisanka explained.

According to a study done in the USA in 2020, it was proved that electric vehicles were more cost efficient than ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) vehicles. According to that report, when considering the full lifetime usage of an electric vehicle, it saves around 6000-10,000 USD. The report can be reached from here . Despite the upfront prices being higher, the overall cost of EV is lesser than fuel vehicles in the USA when considering fuel and maintenance charges. That article can be read from here. Archived.

Claim: EVs take long time to charge and there are not sufficient charging stations in Sri Lanka

Fact: EV doesn`t take too long to charge, despite the fact that there are no sufficient charging stations in the country, you can domestically charge the car battery.

Electric car batteries don`t take a lot of time to charge at all times. It depends on the battery type and charging pointer type. The time can be varied from 30 minutes to 12 hours. When we consider it simply, charging an electric car is somewhat similar to charging a mobile phone. You can use it during the day and can fully charge at night time when it is not in use. 

There are certain factors affecting the charging speed of an electric car such as the size of the battery, state of the battery, maximum charging rate of vehicle, maximum charging rate of charge point and environmental factors like temperature. Details about this , can be read from here .Archived. 

Talking about the point, the founder of EV club, Sri Lanka, Mahisanka Abeywickrama said it`s true that electric charging stations are quite low in Sri Lanka and even the majority of prevailing charging centers can be found within Colombo and Gampaha districts of Western province. He noted that 3500-4000 electric vehicles can be found in the Western province. Mahisanka says that according to the surveys done by EV club Sri Lanka, there are around 5000 electric vehicles in Sri Lanka excluding electric bikes. 2000 vehicles out of these 5000 have not gone at least one time to the charging station to charge the battery and they opt to charge their vehicles domestically. Only around 500 vehicles are going regularly to these charging stations.

Claim: Electric vehicles have a very short range and EV batteries do not last for a long time.

FACT: Electric vehicle range is less compared to fuel powered vehicles and batteries can also last for around a decade too.

Range is one factor heavily scrutinized when it comes to EVs as most of the time the average range is barely half the distance that of fuel-powered vehicles, before they require a recharge. And because gas pumps are far more ubiquitous than fast chargers, especially in Sri Lanka, this is a major consideration against purchasing EVs.

According to our observations, the Nissan Leaf can be considered as one of the most familiar electric vehicles in Sri Lanka. Nissan Leaf and so many modern electric cars have a starting mileage of above 200 miles for brand new EVs. Details about this can be taken from here. Archived.

The battery life of an electric vehicle can be around 10-20 years thanks to modern technology. From using good maintenance, the battery life can be extended furthermore, extending the battery replacement requirement. Details about that can be taken from here. Archived. Speaking about this, Mahisanka said, when the price of a Nissan Leaf was around 2 million rupees, a few years ago, it cost around 1.5 million for battery replacement and hence many of the vehicle owners did not opt for battery replacement.

Mahisanka said that the driving range of EVs are around 180-200 kilometers and above it. However, he accepted the fact that driving range gradually became low gradually with time. “It’s common to every battery. Nothing specific to electric vehicles”, he noted, saying that a variety of reasons such affects the range and after a few years the range from a single charge could get reduced to 80-100 kilometers.

Mahisanka further added that some general conditions in Sri Lanka like heavy traffic can badly influence the battery life.

Claim: The ultimate emission effect to the environment is higher from EVs rather than fuel (ICE) vehicles.

Fact: As a country which generates around half of the electricity from hydro power along with other renewable energy sources, the ultimate emission of EV is less than ICE vehicles.

There is a big debate about the energy source of electricity which is being used to charge EVs. However, in groundbreaking research done by the universities of Exeter and Cambridge in the UK and Netherlands, it was found that even if the 100% coal generated electricity had been used to charge the EVs, they still have lower greenhouse gas emissions compared to ICE vehicles. The details about that research can be taken from here. Archived.

Sri Lanka is a country, where around 50% of electricity is generated from hydropower and other renewable energy sources. The energy graph of Ceylon Electricity Board can be read from here .Archived. And with governments plans to increasingly expand renewable energy sectors, it`s clear that for a country like Sri Lanka, the EVs are a sustainable option.

Expressing his ideas on this matter, Abdul Majeed, a professor in Mechanical Engineering at the South Eastern University of Sri Lanka said that EVs are more suitable if we can use the renewable energy as a power source to generate the electricity to charge the batteries.

Also, some argue that the production process of the lithium-ion batteries of EVs contribute to a large amount of CO2 emissions, hence they are environmentally friendly. The amount of CO2 emission varies from the batter manufacturing process, but it’s true that a significant CO2 volume is emitted, yet experts believe generally this is traded off within 2-3 years as seen here

Also Read : CO2 emitted in making an EV battery isn’t equal to driving a petrol car for 8 years

Taking all these points into consideration, its clear that Electric Vehicles are a more sustainable option for Sri Lankan roads in the long run.