Electric Cars in Flames






Those who follow Formula 1 will have seen that last Sunday at the Bahrain Grand Prix, the French driver Romain Grosjean suffered a spectacular accident. To his good fortune, he did not suffer serious injuries, but the flames of the accident inspired me for this column.

In one maneuver, Grosjean crashes into the containment wall, splitting the car in half and immediately causing an explosion. The flames were impressive; however, in seconds the F1 team was trying to put out the fire and open a space so that the driver could get out from among the flames. No more than 30 seconds passed between the impact and Grosjean’s exit.

We are used to seeing these scenes: after an accident, a conventional car runs the risk of catching fire. Normally, we see that water or chemical extinguishers are used to put out the fire. What this seeks is to isolate the fuel to control the fire and prevent another one from starting. But electric cars bring their own challenges and this works differently.

A conventional electric car could require up to 1,125 liters of water per minute and up to 24 hours to be extinguished. Why? Well, basically, because the fire of a lithium battery in electric cars cannot be extinguished; it will continue until all the cells are consumed.

The batteries of electric cars are composed of many cells that are grouped into modules and, in turn, into packs. The batteries of electric cars can have one or several packs and, in the event of a short circuit, the fire can reach a temperature of 2,700 degrees Celsius. To give you an idea, the fire of a conventional car is 800 degrees Celsius, that is, a fire of an electric car is three times more intense.

Once at the place, the protocol changes. What is sought is not to put out the fire but to reduce the heat enough to be able to activate the mechanisms that separate the modules and avoid a chain reaction and, at the same time, remove other objects at risk, for example, nearby cars in a parking lot. If this is not possible, the car will continue burning for approximately 24 hours.

Water extinguishers are the tool of choice because of the way the chain reaction of the fire in the battery pack works. However, it must be used following certain precautions because, given the heat, water can separate into its components, oxygen and hydrogen, causing a violent flare-up by providing the combustion with more oxidizing agent.

But it does not end there; there are other associated risks: electric shock, heat burns, chemical burns, toxic smoke. The worst? If the dismantling protocols are not followed to stop the chain reaction, the battery could catch fire again in a period no longer than 24 hours.

The accident in Formula 1 demonstrates the technological, safety and protocol advances that we have in fires of conventional cars. But electric cars change the game; if the car that Grosjean crashed had been electric, perhaps the result would not have been so favorable.

As electric cars become widespread and become the rule, the challenge of electric car fires will increase, but this period represents the most complicated learning curve for all countries. In Mexico, we are still in time to begin designing the necessary protocols to prepare ourselves for this new reality and include the large batteries of mass transport.

This article was originally published by Business Insider México.
Date: December 2, 2020
Original Link: https://businessinsider.mx/autos-electricos-accidentes-llamas-opinion-energia-circular-paul-sanchez/ [offline]
Archived Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20240715042612/https://businessinsider.mx/autos-electricos-accidentes-llamas-opinion-energia-circular-paul-sanchez/ [Archived]

Cemetery for Renewable Technologies






I shared with you in a previous installment that the waste of the future has to do with the technology that is used. Just as today we see dumps of tires or technological waste —such as computers and cellphones—, in the future we could be witnesses of dumps of solar panels and batteries. If this is a possibility, then, should we not be planning a cemetery for renewable technologies with the purpose of conducting them in an appropriate and sustainable way to their final resting place?

It is expected that in the coming years there will be a boom regarding distributed generation on rooftops. For example, San Francisco has already passed a law that prevents new residential constructions from using fossil fuels. If this trend continues, the solar panels and batteries that will be part of the everyday landscape of the future must be disposed of responsibly.

This cemetery of renewable technologies is not a conventional dump; because it requires a recycling and treatment process to, first, reuse the greatest possible part of the discarded materials; second, to dispose of in a sustainable and adequate way the waste that can have a negative impact on the soil and the environment.

Regarding solar panels, conventionally more than 75% of these is glass that can be recycled without much problem; 10% is plastic, 10% metals and 5% silicon. Perhaps the greatest value of recycled panels is the metals, which are mainly aluminum, silver and copper. Although aluminum is easy to extract, silver and copper require more complex chemical processes that can reduce the recovery of plastic and glass.

Batteries, for their part, can have a somewhat more complicated process because, although they have iron, aluminum, plastic and copper, there are also chemicals in liquid state of lithium, nickel, cobalt and other substances. The final disposal of batteries is more complex than that of solar panels since the cells represent chemical risk that can derive in fires and burns; poisoning by toxic substances in the environment and causing cancer.

In this way, the cemetery for batteries must be much more careful since the greatest part of the materials must be recovered through physical, chemical separation and by means of heat; subsequently, safely storing those substances that represent risks to the health and safety of communities.

The recycling and final disposal of renewable technologies, due to their complexities, is not a cheap process. Despite this, it is rarely considered in the budgets of installers, leaving under the protection of the final consumer the responsibility of replacing and safely disposing of these components.

This, at the end of the useful life of the technology, would represent a cost not considered at the moment when the renewable solution was budgeted. In this sense, the real savings would be adjusted downward and in a single exhibition, which would imply allocating more resources for the removal and disposal of the technology.

For these reasons, in Europe the extended responsibility of the producer has been promoted, which requires all producers to consider in their prices and within their responsibilities the removal of solar panels and batteries that are installed in homes, businesses and other buildings; with the purpose that the final cost also reflects the cost of getting rid of these technologies when their useful life ends. In Mexico, we are still in time to promote the extended responsibility of the producer and the minimum standards to dispose of renewable technologies —this cemetery for renewable technologies—, before it becomes a public problem that gets out of our hands. At the end of the day this is the principle of circular energy.

This article was originally published by Business Insider México.
Date: November 25, 2020
Original Link: https://businessinsider.mx/cementerio-tecnologias-renovables-opinion-paul-alejandro-sanchez-energia-circular/ [offline]
Archived Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20211023143433/https://businessinsider.mx/cementerio-tecnologias-renovables-opinion-paul-alejandro-sanchez-energia-circular/ [Archived]

Late Again?






Surely you have heard this phrase: “Mexico arrived late to the industrial revolution.” And it is that while in Great Britain its beginnings are traced to the end of the eighteenth century, in Mexico it arrived until the end of the nineteenth century, almost 100 years later. While in Europe the textile industry was being mechanized, roads were increasing; maritime transport and large extensions of railway lines were being installed, in Mexico we rested strongly on textile manufacturing; there was no strong connectivity between production and consumption centers and we fell behind, in contrast, particularly with the United States, where the northern states began to industrialize rapidly.

But it does not end there. Mexico arrived late to other revolutions: the technological revolution, the digital revolution, the computer revolution and even the revolution of industry 4.0. Already on a roll, it could also be debated that we arrived late to the democratic revolution, the revolution of human rights; economic and cultural rights and, of course, environmental rights. Faced with this panorama, I ask myself: will we arrive late this time to the renewable revolution?

If we could divide the world into two categories, those who generate technological innovation and those who adopt innovations, would we doubt that Mexico is in the second? Although, in its fair dimension, Mexico, in general, is a country that adopts technology in its early phases.

Late for renewable energy

At this moment it seems that the perfect storm is hitting us and we have closed not only the door to the development of renewable energy in our country; also the window of early adoption of the technologies that would allow us to be competitive on the international scene.

Today the trend is clear: countries, companies, investment funds; research centers and society in general are betting on renewable energies and their growth in the energy matrix. It is a window of opportunity that, as always, will be taken advantage of by those who work to seize it.

In such a way that, while in other countries there is talk of solar roofs, hydrogen airplanes, electric trains; thermal energy batteries, green or blue hydrogen and homes 100% free of fuels, in Mexico we continue discussing regarding the dispatch of coal plants and purchase plans from small producers, intermittency and regulatory capture.

Undoubtedly, we are losing valuable time that could be dedicated to promoting scientific and technological development to integrate renewable energies into the networks and to destroy once and for all the myth of intermittency, to create auctions that have greater benefits for users and CFE at the cost of the risk assumed by private parties or to expand the transmission and distribution networks to the most vulnerable and marginalized areas of the country.

Otherwise, this period will go down in the history of Mexico as the time when our country arrived late to the energy revolution that redefined the economic and social system at the international level. Let us hope that this time it is not 100 years late, because we have everything to make energy work for you, for me and for all of us.

This article was originally published by Business Insider México.
Date: November 18, 2020
Original Link: https://businessinsider.mx/otra-vez-tarde-revolucion-energia-renovable-energia-circular-opinion/ [offline]
Archived Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20210509043040/https://businessinsider.mx/otra-vez-tarde-revolucion-energia-renovable-energia-circular-opinion/ [Archived]