Back in the day while studying for my Class XII board exams, I had a huge chemistry textbook. Around 500 pages of organic chemistry and another 500 pages of inorganic chemistry. And I did fairly well in the subject, scoring 92. This was in 1997, so do not judge me by today’s scores. And while the engineering option was open, in no small part because my grandfather was a chemical engineer, life had different plans. One where there was little chemistry involved. Until now when the subject made a comeback in my life.
Gone are the days when vehicles were mechanical beings, where a carburettor mixed the fuel and the air together and suspension settings could be changed with a screwdriver. Today you need to understand software to be able to change anything on a car. Some things are easy, like changing the steering ‘weight’ or the softness of the suspension. Even small cars now have ‘modes’ such as ‘Sport’ and ‘Eco’, where at the press of a button, you can change the way your car behaves. And the likes of BMW M series cars throw up a multitude of different settings, all of which that can be accessed from the drivers’ seat. For more ‘cool’ changes, you can alter things like the compression ratios of the pistons (or removing the speed alarms) by plugging in a computer with the requisite port to the car.
So you need to understand technology and software to change a car’s character. But as an automotive writer, I increasingly find myself delving more and more into chemistry. Inorganic chemistry, which is non-Carbon chemistry basically, thanks to the development of electric vehicles. They force me to apply my mind to electro-chemical properties of batteries — What are the advantages and disadvantages of one battery chemistry such as Lithium-NMC versus another, such as LFD? Or keep track of new chemistries such as Sodium-Ion and Aluminium-Ion. This, notwithstanding the knowledge required to understand the intricacies of the electrical grid and charging ecosystem.