By Daniel Sperling

The full version of this article was originally published in FierceSmartGrid October 1 2013

Numerous factors must be taken into account as electric vehicle use grows, including human behavior and an aging infrastructure. Detailed data on electrical vehicle usage, particularly charging patterns, will ultimately inform utilities on how to handle the impact on the power grid.

Vehicles are now on a trajectory to become more sustainable as hybrid and plug-in electric vehicles (EVs) become more common, but there are still a number of barriers to mass adoption. Automakers are struggling to make vehicles more affordable, consumer hesitance must be overcome, and utilities are grappling with the potential impact on power grids.

Coolness’ and performance serve the market, and green goals

By Ali Emadi, IEEE Transportation Electrification Initiative, Director, McMaster Institute for Automotive Research and Technology

The full version of this article was originally published in EE Times

Electric vehicles (EVs) currently on the market represent a beneficial new direction in terms of sustainable, low-impact transportation. Yet the EV market today tends to obscure a much bigger picture as we pursue the “electrification of transportation.”

My colleagues and I are focused on gradually increasing what we call the “electrification factor” in all forms of transportation, which includes passenger cars, but extends to trains, boats and planes. When terms such as “electrification factor” and the “electrification of transportation” are defined, a much bigger picture emerges.

So let’s begin with definitions and their implications. Then we’ll look behind the curtain at the technological hurdles we must clear in the pursuit of these objectives.

 

By: Prof. Yassine Ruichek

Systems and Transportation laboratory (SET)

Research Institute on Transports, Energy and Society (IRTES)
University of Technology of Belfort-Montbéliard (UTBM)

During the past decades, connected vehicles or intelligent vehicles have seen more and more attention and development efforts from research societies and the industry community.  Nowadays, a car driver is assisted by several onboard technologies, called advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), in order to reduce accident risk and, hence, allowing the driver to anticipate and adapt his behavior when potentially dangerous situations occur.  ADAS usually consists of adaptive cruise control (ACC), lane departure warning system, collision avoidance system, automatic parking, traffic sign recognition, road map based navigation system with path optimization integrating traffic state, etc.

By: Hy Murveit

I confess, I had been waiting a long time for an EV when I finally ordered my Nissan Leaf in October 2011. I oversized my roof solar-panel installation in anticipation of an EV in Dec 2006. I unsuccessfully bid on a used Rav4-EV in Nov ‘07. I put down a refundable $5000 deposit on a Tesla Model S in March ‘09. After I picked up my shiny new red Leaf in May 2011, I insisted on using the Leaf to pick up my daughter across the bay at Oakland Airport. Not knowing whether it could have made the standard 81-mile all-highway round trip over the San Mateo Bridge (it could have, but just barely), I arranged to arrive a couple of hours early and charged at a nearby Nissan dealer.


About the Newsletter

Editors-in-Chief

Jin-Woo Ahn
Co-Editor-in-Chief

 

Sheldon Williamson
Co-Editor-in-Chief

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