Transportation has had many evolutions throughout the years. Firstly, the boat was invented to cross water, horses were domesticated soon after and it all was crowned by the invention of the wheel. Later on the steam engine enabled the invention of automobiles. All those have been further developed into variants we use today. Currently, the car manufacturing industry has been disrupted by a specific type of car: the electric car.
Electric cars are nothing new. The first electric car was developed in 1884, and in 1900 it was the most popular type of car. After the mass production of gasoline cars, the popularity plummeted. More electric models have been produced throughout the 1900’s, but these were never successful. The Toyota Prius however sparked the interest in fuel-efficient cars in the 2000’s. Sales of electric cars have greatly increased in the past years, which goes hand in hand with the launch of successful models such as the Nissan Leaf and the Tesla Model S. Researchers believe that the total cost of ownership of electric cars will fall below that of combustion engine cars in 2022, potentially accelerating sales even further.
Power Grid
The increase of electric cars and charging stations has impact on the power grid. In 2020, there will be 13 times more charging stations then in 2014 and in a matter of time gas stations will be outnumbered by charging stations. The use of electric cars influences the performance, efficiency and required capacity of the electric grid. Therefore, it’s not possible to deploy an unlimited amount of electric cars, without modifying the existing power grid.
Stakeholders
The growth in sales of electric vehicles affects many stakeholders. Many countries across the world subsidize the purchase of electric cars and some countries go even further by banning fossil fueled cars within 5-15 years. The shift in consumer behavior forces car manufacturers to include electric options in their assortment.
Lithium-ion batteries are the most commonly used batteries in modern electric cars and draw the most development funds.
One of the biggest hurdles for electric car sales is “range anxiety”, the fear that your car will go out of energy before you are able to reach your target, an exaggerated fear though: 87% of vehicles in the USA could be replaced by a low cost electric car with only overnight charging needed.
Modern Lithium-ion batteries for car use have a lifetime of about 1000 recharging cycles, meaning that the car life exceeds the battery life, however several manufacturers are giving out warranties for batteries to combat customers fears. Recycling lithium-ion batteries is difficult, so most end up in trash dumps currently; however several companies are committed to increase recycling rates of lithium-ion batteries.
Created by Group 9.
