Growing concerns about public health, global warming and economic safety are calling for sustainable road transport technologies. Electric vehicles (EV), due to their zero local and potentially minor green house gas emissions, are considered the cleanest option. Of even higher concerns are the opportunities EVs provide in terms of efficiency and flexibility in the use of energy. Taking into account that in Europe 73% of all oil is consumed by transport, the introduction of EVs should be a first priority for savings of the most critical source of primary energy.

According to recent announcements of major automakers, both plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) and small full electric vehicles will be launched into the market within 2 to 5 years from now.

Interestingly, even broad introduction of EVs should not be an issue for utility providers and grid operators: Estimating the energy consumption of an EV to be about 140Wh/km (e.g. for a mid size vehicle) and taking into account on average 10.000 km travelled per year, it can be stated that 10 million vehicles would require 14 TWh of energy which is just a small fraction of the annual electricity output of a EU member state (e.g. in Italy it would be about 4 %). The use of on–board solar cells could further reduce this percentage.

Leveraging mass use of EVs however is currently facing several weaknesses amongst which are: limited driving range, high cost and overall limited efficiency. For the most part of these issues, solutions may be found at the level of the subsystems for energy storage, electric power train, and energy management. Like demonstrated for the internal combustion engine previously, it can be expected that smart system technologies combining novel microsystems and advanced ICT solutions will be the key enabler for the required gain in performance.
This paper summarizes the findings and strategic recommendations resulting from an expert workshop on “Smart Systems for the Full Electric Vehicle” held on 25 and 26 June 2008 in Brussels.

read more