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Electric vehicles offer, apart from their high energy efficiency,
the advantages of no local emission of any air pollutant and far
lower noise emissions from the whole drivetrain than
conventionally powered vehicles. In urban driving applications
these are two major advantages of the electric vehicle over
vehicles powered by internal combustion engines (ICEs). Given
that the problems of local noise and air pollution require action,
introducing electric mobility can be seen as a great opportunity.
Low-emission zones are being established all over Europe,
where polluting vehicles are partially restricted from entering or
charged a fee. Particulate matter, ozone and nitrogen oxides
(NO X) generally create great concern amongst authorities.
Electric vehicles, being emission-free, will clearly have an
advantage in this regard. Major cities like London are either
currently planning or carrying out field studies with electric
fleets. HEVs that can be electrically operated in city traffic offer
similar benefits.
Although electric vehicles cause no direct emissions, it is also
necessary to consider energy production aspects. If the electric
energy generated from renewable sources, the overall balance
of emissions is advantageous; if using electricity from
conventional coal-fired plants, electric vehicles perform only a
little better in terms of energy efficiency and overall GHG
emissions compared with existing fuel-efficient vehicles. This
topic will be further discussed in the section on charging
infrastructure.
HYBRID AND ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Due to the overall high efficiency of fully electrically powered
vehicles, less energy is consumed compared to vehicles
equipped with conventional powertrains. This fact not only gives
a clear ecological advantage to electric vehicles, but also
massively affects running costs, thus making them also more
economical. As energy prices are projected to increase
continuously, running costs will definitely become of greater
importance for customers, and electric propulsion systems can
assist maintaining individual mobility in the future.
To sum up, HEVs are technical options for the future that can
contribute meeting the challenges for road transport by reducing
CO 2 and pollutant emissions and increasing the energy
efficiency.
Despite the positive effects of introducing hybrid and electric
vehicle technology to address policy objectives, economic
developments and the limited nature of fossil fuel resources,
these promising technologies still have to overcome a number
of hurdles, especially regarding the electric energy storage
system.
Over a number of years, the statutory framework has reflected
growing interest in the area of alternative propulsion and in
vehicle technology, introducing biofuels and launching RD&D
projects for hybrid and electric vehicles. This interest is now
further increased due to recent surge in oil prices.
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