Market Prospects of Electric Passenger Vehicles

According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UN IPCC), “warming of the climate system is unequivocal” and “most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations” [1]. In order to limit the expected future increase of temperature to a maximum of 2°C above the preindustrial level and avoid irreversible effects, it is necessary to dramatically decrease GHG emissions from industrialized countries and furthermore to slowdown emissions from developing nations. Transport constitutes a significant portion of carbon dioxide (CO2) and therefore GHG emissions (Fig. 21.1). For example, in the western part of the European Union (EU-15) approximately 24% of an overall 3.15 billion tons (Gt) of CO2 emissions are assigned to transport activities. More than 90% of these emissions are from road transport, with cars and vans making up the largest proportion [2]. Emissions from pollutants are decoupling from a continuously increasing mileage for the most part due to the ongoing introduction of emission after treatment systems for vehicles (Fig. 21.2). In contrast, for CO2 emissions there is no clear reversal of trend observable to date, making it necessary to find solutions for lowering emissions in the future. Electric vehicles are one important pillar of strategies to reduce GHG emissions from transport in the long run. At the local level, they do not emit any pollutants and in combination with electricity from renewable energy sources they allow reaching an emission level close to zero even on a well-to-wheel (WTW) basis. Furthermore, they could provide a way to end dependence on liquid fuels based on crude oil and ensure a drastic reduction of noise emission level especially for inner cities.