Energy snd environmental aspects of electric and hybred vehicles towards the 21st century

摘要

This paper highlights the main energy and environmental aspects of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles (EV and HEV). The first part includes comparisons between their performance and that of ICE vehicles, focused on emission of pollutants and energy/fuel consumption. Storage systems of electric energy are discussed and compared. An obstacle for the implementation and penetration of EVs and HEVs has been the limitations associated with electric batteries and other storage systems. Fuel Cell vehicles, starting to appear on the market, are considered to provide a solution for this problem, together with hydrogen fuel and lithium batteries. The future of alternative clean vehicles is discussed, and prospects of their use in the 21st century are contemplated. It is emphasised that in order to solve the rising problems of traffic (especially in city-center), related to ecology and energy, congestion and mobility and also to safety, it is not enough to develop and introduce the vehicle technologies only. It is necessary to develop, in parallel, the road and service infrastructures, by various Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), including non-technical means for transport management. The EVs will then have a major role, as automated clean vehicles providing the basis for combinations of private and mass transportation systems, such as Personal Rapid Transit (PRT).