Electric vehicle deployment in urban areas

Abstract

The transportation sector accounts for approximately one-fifth of global primary energy use and one quarter of all energy related carbon dioxide emissions, with nearly half of those emissions originating from passenger vehicles. In order to reduce significantly the use of fossil fuels in urban mobility, whilst improving air quality and increasing the accessibility and attractiveness of urban areas, it is necessary to increase the use of non-conventionally fuelled vehicles for passenger and freight transport in urban areas. The introduction of electric vehicles (EVs) is a promising option, so as to achieve decarbonisation objectives, energy security, improved urban air quality and to increase energy efficiency. However, there are a number of challenges for the large-scale deployment of EV both on global and European level. These, in particular, are the high cost of the battery, lack of a standardised recharging infrastructure, relatively low range of battery electric vehicles or lack of interesting value proposition for consumers. A few studies have attempted to calculate the costs and benefits of EVs, but none consider the cost and benefits of EVs at a level of detail comparable to what has been performed for other vehicle technologies. This study constructs the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of EVs, based on real data from the auto-industry, in order to assess the costs and benefits as well as the potentiality of electro-mobility deployment in urban areas.