The future of electric vehicles: prospects and impediments

In recent years, about a century after reaching their first prime in the early 1900s, electric vehicles (EVs) have received growing attention again. Politicians in various countries have recognized EVs as a promising technological alternative to fossil fuel driven cars in combating global warming. However, for a broader market penetration considerable barriers have to be removed. The most important are high investment costs and low driving ranges, both caused by the major weakness of EVs-their battery. The core objective of this article is to investigate the future market prospects of various types of EVs, with the economics of EVs in comparison to conventional cars playing a key role. Only if the final driving costs can be considerably reduced will EVs gain significant market shares. In addition to this also the environmental aspects are very important because they are a major motivation in supporting and promotion of EVs. However, the policies and measures implemented vary between countries, meaning there is huge potential for an exchange of lessons learned. The major conclusion of this article is that future prospects of EVs are only bright if the costs of batteries can be brought down through technological learning and if improved storage can lead to higher driving ranges. However, to harvest the full environmental benefits of EVs the electricity for EVs must be generated from renewable energy sources. (C) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.