Electric vehicle

15
The Future of Electric Vehicles
15.1
Introduction
In the previous chapter recent electric vehicles were discussed. Future development is always difficult to predict but there are several clear pointers as to how electric vehicles are likely to develop.
As was mentioned in Chapter 3, new lithium technology may develop substantially and specific energies of new lithium batteries are predicted to double in the next few years.
This would allow the range of electric vehicles to double for the same battery mass.
Doubling the range of electric vehicles would answer many of the criticisms of electric vehicles. In fact the Tesla Model S due to be released in 2012 has the option of a battery pack which gives a range of up to 300 miles (480 km. Another interesting development is the Honda FCX Clarity fuel cell car which has a similar range and can be refuelled as quickly as a petrol or diesel car. It is likely that battery electric vehicles and fuel cell electric vehicles will both play a role in the future.
The benefits of high-speed trains for rapid long-distance travel were discussed in
Chapter 14. Maglev trains are already in use in China and it is believed that in the next decade these will become more widespread.
There has been little use of road–rail systems which combine the benefits of both road and rail. Such systems can enable long-distance travel using supply lines for recharging while allowing vehicles to travel to their destinations as a conventional road vehicle.
The above systems give a guide as to where the future of electric vehicles may lie and these are discussed in this chapter.

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