Reduction of carbon footprint of electric vehicles by using battery alternatives and integrated photovoltaics

Electric Vehicles (EVs) were developed to reduce the carbon footprint generated by conventional fuel-based vehicles and provide a cheaper mode of transportation. Various factors have facilitated the switch from conventional fuel-based vehicles to EVs, such as electricity currently being cheaper than conventional fuels, lower cost of maintenance, the government provided subsidies and better safety since they have a lower centre of gravity. A significant component of EVs is the battery. The market leader of the same is Li-ion batteries in view of their excellent advantages in terms of longevity, low maintenance cost, and high power to weight ratio. However, Li-ion batteries have a higher initial cost due to the raw materials used in the production, high carbon footprint generated due to mining of raw materials required, a limited range of operating conditions that need to be maintained and humanitarian concerns associated with Cobalt mining. Due to these factors, there is a need to come up with alternatives for Li-ion batteries. In this work, a comprehensive energy and cost analysis is carried out on integrating the emerging photovoltaic (PV) technologies with state-of-the-art battery alternatives in EVs, thus targeting lower carbon footprint levels. On the same lines, the analysis takes into consideration numerous external factors such as location, climate, and photovoltaic efficiency of various PV modules. Our results indicate that third-generation photovoltaics holds tremendous economic potential and provide a good return on their investment to consumers around the globe. Copyright (C) 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.