The Future of Electric Vehicles: Technology, infrastructure developments and the future outlook

Interest in electric vehicles is on the rise. For a variety of reasons this interest is unlikely to dissipate in the foreseeable future. These reasons range from climate change and environmental pollution, to the gradual depletion of fossil fuels worldwide, and to the nationalistic desire to reduce dependence on imported oil. Each country faces its own unique set of challenges but environmental pressures and the looming background threat of global warming are common to all. In the US, it has been estimated by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory that if 73% of the country’s cars and light vehicles turned electric, it could cut oil demand by an estimated 6.2 million barrels per day, approximately half of the country’s current imports. For this reason alone, interest in cleaner vehicles as alternatives to traditional gasoline powered cars will grow. Electric vehicles stand poised to fulfil a need at this important time, providing this cleaner mode of transport, to aid the effort to curb harmful emissions from liquid fuels. Technology, economic context, environmental issues are all aligning to create a more commercial backdrop for electric vehicles.

Table of Contents:

Executive summary 8
Brief history of electric vehicles and market drivers 8
Leading electric vehicle manufacturers & outlook 9
Infrastructure for electric vehicles 10
Smart grids & smart charging 10
Electric vehicles and distributed storage 11
Future outlook 12
Chapter 1 Brief history of electric vehicles
and market drivers 16
Summary 16
Brief history of electric vehicles 17
Brief history of electric vehicles 17
Drivers of renewed interest 19
Increased range of electric vehicles 22
Falling oil production/peak oil 24
Gasoline and fuel prices 27
Legislation 30
Reducing emissions 31
Size of the market 32
Chapter 2 Leading electric vehicles
manufacturers & outlook 36
Summary 36
Main vehicle technologies 37
Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV) 39
Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) 43
Battery-powered Electric Vehicles (BEV) 47
The first mass market BEVs 48
Fuel Cell Vehicles (FCV) 52
The role of utilities in EV evolution 54
Chapter 3 Infrastructure for electric vehicles 58
Summary 58
Charging infrastructure 59
Charging stations 61
Charging times 67
Increased power generation requirements 70
Increasing role of utilities 74
Vehicle and battery leasing 76
Chapter 4 Smart grids & smart charging 80
Summary 80
Smart grids & smart charging 81
Smart charging 83
Car manufacturers taking the lead 85
Smart charging standards 86
Who controls charging? 86
The role of utilities 89
Infrastructure investment 92
Public investment in the smart grid 93
Bi-directional power flows 94
Chapter 5 Electric vehicles and distributed
storage 96
Summary 96
Electric vehicles and distributed storage 97
Battery capacity and storage opportunities 98
Vehicle-to-grid 100
Benefits of V2G 102
Integrating V2G into the grid 103
Electric vehicles and renewable generation 104
Energy harvesting 106
Chapter 6 Future outlook 110
Summary 110
Future outlook 111
Market outlook 112
United States 113
Europe 115
Japan 116
China 117
India 118
Infrastructure requirements in the next decade 119
Potential investment needed 120
Glossary 122
Index 125

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