With Electricity to ZEV? Potential and Limitations of Electric Mobility

“Zero Emission Vehicles” in the form of pure electric vehicles are quite feasible and useful for limited cruising ranges. However, market success depends on customer acceptance. Studies show, that customers expect electric vehicles with driving performance similar to conventional vehicles while comparable cruising ranges should be available at low additional cost. With currently available batteries using lithium ion technology a gravimetric energy density of only one percent of the energy density of gasoline or diesel can be reached. With respect to acceptable additional costs this effect leads to significant reduction of the cruising range. For various reasons such as battery aging, demand for heating, traffic jams, etc., this already decreased cruising range is further reduced. In such cases electrical energy can be generated with a demand oriented (down-) sized combustion engine, a so called “Range Extender”. The presented paper describes the current state of development regarding electric mobility and demonstrates the potential and limitations of electric vehicles. In particular, the problem of limited cruising range will be discussed and a solution including a “Range Extender” will be presented, while considering economic and environmental aspects.