Search Results (7)

Electric vehicles (EVs) are revolutionizing road transport. They represented the most reliable and realistic option to decarbonize road transport in the last 10 years and look to be holding a promising future. EVs are in competition with internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, but they still have a lower performance, particularly in range, and they remain more expensive. To guarantee the EV development and make it a sustainable substitution to ICE vehicles, the EV industry and technology development had been mostly supported by governments’ subsidies. One of the main issues EVs are facing is that they depreciate much faster than ICE vehicles, principally due to rapid technological progress that drives the market on the one hand and, on the other, makes older EV models prematurely obsolete. The other variable that contributes to faster EV depreciation is subsidies. It is expected that the end of subsidies will bring the necessary leverage to slow down EVs fast depreciation due to the wider price gap between new and pre-owned EVs. Batteries, which make EVs a practical reality, play a major role in EV depreciation. Besides the possible degradation of EV batteries, the technology development and price drop give newer models better range at a lower cost. The second-hand EV market is a fair reflection of the fast depreciation of EVs; naturally, the two subjects should be studied correlatively. It may not be obvious to draw an obvious correlation, but it seems clear that the fast depreciation of EVs is one of the major reasons why the second-hand EV market is still minor. Depreciation is a major driver of the second-hand EV market. In this manuscript are presented the main aspects of EV depreciation, particularly those related to fast technological evolution, including batteries and subsidies, as well as the second-hand EV market. Full article

As the car price war has intensified in China from 2023, the continuous decline in prices of new cars for both conventional fuel vehicles and electric vehicles (EVs) has led to a sharp decline in used cars. In particular, the EV market appears more vulnerable as the prime cost of battery raw materials has decreased since January 2023. And thus, a second-hand EV price prediction system is urgent. This study compares several methods for used EVs in China. We find that the random forest method and the gradient boosting regression tree (GBRT) method have good effects on predicting used EV prices in respecting price ranges. Timed EV data capture is applied to guarantee the real-time property of our prediction system. Then, we propose the concept of circular pricing, which means that the obsolete data for the priced car will be repriced according to the latest data. In this way, such a system can guide the used car dealers to adjust the price in time. Full article

Over the last 50 years since Whittingham created the world’s first lithium-ion battery (LIB) in 1970, LIBs have continued to develop and have become mainstream for electric vehicle (EV) batteries. However, when an LIB for an EV reaches 80% of its state of health (SOH), although it still retains about 80% of its capacity, it is no longer suitable for use in general EVs and must be retired. This is problematic because not only is a retired LIB still viable for use and not totally obsolete, if not properly disposed of, a retired LIB may cause environmental pollution on top of being a waste of resources. Therefore, the reuse of retired LIBs from EVs is increasingly important. This paper uses circular economy (CE) and extended producer responsibility (EPR) as a theoretical basis to deal with the disposal of retired LIBs from EVs in Taiwan from legal, technical, and economic perspectives, and hopes to provide suggestions for the reuse of retired LIBs from EVs in Taiwan. Full article

Considering the proposed strict new constraints of public authorities, decarbonization has become a key trend in recent years. Although several countries have started the process of decarbonization through the introduction of electric vehicles in their public services, for many countries, especially developing countries, transportation is still a hard sector to decarbonize. The presence of obsolete and polluting vehicles discourages citizens from using public transport and thus incentivizes the use of private vehicles, which create traffic congestion and increase emissions. Based on these considerations, this paper aimed to implement a simulation for a public service in Eritrea, evaluating whether it is possible to take a long trip using an electric minibus. A case study is implemented highlighting the barriers of electrifying transportation in this area, producing results on fuel consumption and service reliability. In the case study, four scenarios are presented to estimate the service. The scenarios evaluate the possibility to perform from three to five recharges. Fewer charges mean longer charging time, leading to a 2 h charging phase in Scenario 1, while recharging more than twice along the route will lead to shorter 30 min charges, as in Scenario 3. The case study also highlights the relevance of the slope in electric vehicle performance, as reported for the case of Asmara–Massawa travel ($E_{cons}=$ 6.688 kWh). Finally, an environmentally sustainable solution, such as a 92 kWh/day photovoltaic plant, is proposed to power the service. Full article

Modern communication networks and digital control techniques are used in a smart grid. The first step is to classify the features of several communication networks and conduct a comparative investigation of the communication networks applicable to the smart grid. The integration of distributed generation has significantly increased as the global energy demand rises, and sustainable energy for electric vehicles and renewable energies worldwide are being pursued. Additional explanations for this surge include environmental concerns, the reforming of the power sector, and the advancing of small-scale electricity generation technologies. Smart monitoring and control of interconnected systems are required to successfully integrate distributed generation into an existing conventional power system. Electric-vehicles-based smart grid technologies are capable of playing this part. Smart grids are crucial to avoid becoming locked in an obsolete energy infrastructure and to draw in new investment sources and build an effective and adaptable grid system. To achieve reliability and high-quality power systems, it is also necessary to apply intelligent grid technologies at the bulk power generation and transmission levels. This paper presents smart grid applicable communication networks and electric vehicles empowering distributed generation systems. Additionally, we address some constraints and challenges and make recommendations that will give proper guidelines for academicians and researchers to resolve the current issues. Full article

The electric hybridization of vehicles with an internal combustion engine is an effective measure to reduce ${\mathrm{CO}}_2$ emissions. However, the identification of the dimension and the sufficient complexity of the powertrain parts such as the engine, electric machine, and battery is not trivial. This paper investigates the influence of the technological advancement of an internal combustion engine and the sizing of all propulsion components on the optimal degree of hybridization and the corresponding fuel consumption reduction. Thus, a turbocharged and a naturally aspirated engine are both modeled with the additional option of either a fixed camshaft or a fully variable valve train. All models are based on data obtained from measurements on engine test benches. We apply dynamic programming to find the globally optimal operating strategy for the driving cycle chosen. Depending on the engine type, a reduction in fuel consumption by up to 32% is achieved with a degree of hybridization of 45%. Depending on the degree of hybridization, a fully variable valve train reduces the fuel consumption additionally by up to 9% and advances the optimal degree of hybridization to 50%. Furthermore, a sufficiently high degree of hybridization renders the gearbox obsolete, which permits simpler vehicle concepts to be derived. A degree of hybridization of 65% is found to be fuel optimal for a vehicle with a fixed transmission ratio. Its fuel economy diverges less than 4% from the optimal fuel economy of a hybrid electric vehicle equipped with a gearbox. Full article

The use of electricity for transportation needs offers the chance to replace fossil fuels with greener energy sources. Potentially, coupling sustainable transports with Renewable Energies (RE) could reduce significantly both Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and the dependency on oil imports. However, the expected growth rate of Electric Vehicles (EVs) could become also a potential risk for the environment if recycling processes will continue to function in the current way. To this aim, the paper reviews the international literature on obsolete EV management practices, by considering scientific works published from 2000 up to 2019. Results show that the experts have paid great attention to this topic, given both the critical and valuable materials embedded in EVs and their main components (especially traction batteries), by offering interesting potential profits, and identifying the most promising End-of-Life (EoL) strategy for recycling both in technological and environmental terms. However, the economics of EV recycling systems have not yet been well quantified. The intent of this work is to enhance the current literature gaps and to propose future research streams. Full article