Plug-in electric vehicles: challenges and opportunities in the US

A new paper from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy indicates that large-scale introduction of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) into the light-duty fleet would substantially reduce U.S. oil consumption. It could also deliver important environmental benefits- specifically reduced emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) and other pollutants, but these benefits will vary with the source of the electricity used to charge the PEVs. A wealth of policies and programs are in place to support PEV adopt
July 25, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
A new paper from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy indicates that large-scale introduction of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) into the light-duty fleet would substantially reduce U.S. oil consumption. It could also deliver important environmental benefits- specifically reduced emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) and other pollutants, but these benefits will vary with the source of the electricity used to charge the PEVs.

A wealth of policies and programs are in place to support PEV adoption, including federal, state, and local government measures; activities in the private sector; and activities undertaken by utilities and utility regulators to prepare for and promote PEV adoption. However, while a great number and variety of PEV policies are in place, these policies are not yet sufficiently comprehensive or coordinated to achieve widespread adoption of PEVs in the immediate future.

This report discusses the challenges facing widespread adoption of PEVs from both transportation and utility sector perspectives. It explains the importance of addressing those challenges and presents recommendations to achieve that end.

Related Content

  • Hyperloop: from sci-fi to transport policy
    April 16, 2020
    The future is here. While it has long looked like something from a sci-fi movie, Graham Anderson investigates a technology whose time might have come.
    Read More
  • Future EV owners can make money from the power grid
    May 17, 2012
    In what is being claimed as a landmark research report published by Ricardo and National Grid in the UK, the market potential is demonstrated for an electric plug-in vehicle fleet of the future to provide balancing services to the power grid on a commercial basis, returning value to vehicle owners while improving the carbon efficiency of grid operation.
    Read More
  • Pollution has more than one solution
    April 7, 2014
    Professor Alexander Baklanov of the World Meteorological Organization talks to Colin Sowman about the difficulties of reducing urban pollution. The inhabitants of Beijing have recently been suffering pollution levels 20 times the World Health Organisation’s recommended limit while the European Union is revitalising its efforts to implement and enforce air quality standards. Almost inevitably much of the clean-up efforts are likely to focus on traffic planners and engineers.
    Read More
  • Wireless - the future of vehicle detection
    July 23, 2012
    Peter Cattell of Clearview Traffic analyses different wireless communications methods and explains how these are changing the face of vehicle detection. With the continued expansion of traffic data collection solutions, providing a robust, reliable, scalable and secure method of collecting information becomes increasingly important. Over many years, various mobile wireless technologies have been utilised to make the remote collection of data a reality but recent developments are changing the way that this w
    Read More

Highlighted Content