So, you think you have an AI strategy? Think again.
that a fleet of EV-AVs drawing power from
the current NYC power grid would reduce
GHG emissions by 73% and energy
consumption by 58% compared to a fleet of
ICE-AVs. These analyses indicate that
although ICE-AVs do help the environment
more than standard ICE vehicles, EV-AVs
stand to make the highest positive impact.
be fully self-driving. Tesla recently
reaffirmed its guidance of reaching 360K-
400K vehicles to be delivered in 2019. 24 As
the growth of EV-AVs continues, so will the
demand increase for raw materials,
manufacturing and disposal of AV batteries.
The mining of battery ingredients can be
detrimental to the environment and humans
who perform the mining.
On the other hand, although there is lack of
data on the extent that AVs will drive EV 20
sales or vice versa, Tesla serves as a good
example of how EV-AVs sales might evolve.
Back in October 2016, Tesla reported 21 that
all their cars will include hardware necessary
for full self-driving capabilities. Then, by
August 2018, Musk announced that
Autopilot Version 9 includes software
features for full self-driving capabilities,
where customers can pay $5K for Autopilot
lane-keeping and lane-changing capabilities
or an additional $3K for full self-driving
capability. 22 According to Statistica, 23 the
number of Tesla vehicles delivered
worldwide since they started including
hardware necessary for full self-driving went
from ~22K vehicles delivered in Q4/2016 to
~41K vehicles delivered in Q2/2018 resulting
in a total of ~196K vehicles with the ability to
Lithium: The extraction of lithium can impact
the environment through water pollution
and depletion as well as through the toxic
chemicals that are used to extract and
process it. Based on analysis 25 by Friends of
Earth Europe, “the amount of Li-ion
batteries collected in the EU in 2010 was
estimated at 1,289 tons along with 297 tons
of lithium primary batteries. This is only
about 5% of the Li-ion batteries put on the
market,” according to the Belgian recyclers,
Umicore. In terms of harvesting, natural
environments
and
underdeveloped
countries stand to face the challenge of
delivering on Lithium. For example,
according to the Democracy Center, “Large
quantities of toxic chemicals will be needed
to process the predicted 30,000 to 40,000
tons of lithium per year that the project
20 https://www.greencarcongress.com/2018/07/20180720-hayden.html
21 https://www.tesla.com/blog/all-tesla-cars-being-produced-now-have-full-self-driving-hardware%20
22 https://www.zdnet.com/article/elon-musk-tesla-autopilot-gets-full-self-driving-features-in-august-update/
23 https://www.statista.com/statistics/502208/tesla-quarterly-vehicle-deliveries/
24 https://ir.tesla.com/news-releases/news-release-details/tesla-q1-2019-vehicle-production-deliveries
25 http://www.foeeurope.org/sites/default/files/publications/13_factsheet-lithium-gb.pdf
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June 2019