In the 2020s, one of the biggest, most all-encompassing challenges for chemical toll processing will be powering the growing number of powerful electric vehicles, either by increasing the efficiency of existing battery technologies or developing new, sustainable ways to power cars.
The current primary technology in this regard, lithium-ion, is highly efficient in its power output, but its relative instability combined with its reliance on several rare metals means that as EV infrastructure scales upward, the environmental benefits of them are undermined by the ecological damage caused by mining.
Innovations will help reduce this and could potentially be the way EVs become the dominant form of personal transportation.
Just over two decades ago, however, with one of the most ambitious EVs up to that point being scrapped in a policy they would come to regret, another manufacturer based in India had just released what would be the most successful EV in the world and perhaps the least popular.
The REVA, better known as the Reva G-Wiz in the UK, is technically not an electric car, but instead officially an electric quadricycle, due to its small size and relatively limited power.
This was not necessarily a problem for its designers, the Reva Electric Car Company (now part of the Mahindra group), as the target market was inner-city commuters, for whom the limited range of 50 miles would not be an issue and the tiny size would be a benefit.
This is likely what drove 4,600 people to place an order for one, and why many of them put up with the somewhat dubious styling, power drain whenever the indicator lights were used and general instability.
What could not be abided by, however, was the danger of the machine, with several independent tests (as the G-Wiz was a quadricycle it did not need to pass typical car safety tests) showing that a crash at 35mph could potentially cause serious injuries, a fear that became real in October 2010.
Ultimately, it was an important car for testing that there was a market for a fully electric vehicle, which led to developments from major car manufacturers and the rise of a new generation of EVs that continue to evolve to this day.