Prospects for electric cars: electric vehicle impact assessment study. Final report, 15 December 1975--30 April 1978

Technical Report · Wed Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1978

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6062717· OSTI ID:6062717

Hamilton, W.

The characteristics of future electric cars were projected by means of parametric models of weight, cost, and performance. They included urban ranges as much as two to four times those of recent electric cars: up to 150 km for improved lead-acid batteries, 250 km for nickel-zinc batteries, and 450 km for lithium-sulfur batteries. From data tapes of major travel surveys in Los Angeles and Washington, these ranges were found to be sufficient for most needs of all three major groups of drivers: secondary and primary drivers at multi-driper households, and drivers at one-driver households. Even with the longest design ranges, however, the electric cars would be incapable of occasional long trips now made by conventional cars, and only at the shortest design ranges would they be competitive in cost. Through modeling of supply and demand for over 200 U.S. utilities it was projected that, by the year 2000, almost 60% of US cars could be electrified, only 17% of the recharging power would come from petroleum. Modeling of air pollutant emissions for 24 large urban regions showed that electrification of all cars would reduce regional hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide emissions by roughly half, but increase sulfur oxide emissions some 20%. Traffic noise would be significantly reduced, even after major quieting of conventional vehicles. Identified resources of battery materials suffice for tens of millions of electric cars, but not necessarily for complete electrification of all US autos. Economic impacts aside from added costs for motorists would be relatively minor.

• Research Organization: General Research Corp., Santa Barbara, CA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: EY-76-C-03-1180
• OSTI ID: 6062717
• Report Number(s): SAN-1180-1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290700 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Transport & Storage
33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS
330300* -- Advanced Propulsion Systems-- Electric-Powered Systems
AIR POLLUTION
BATTERY CHARGERS
CALIFORNIA
COST
DOCUMENT TYPES
ECONOMIC IMPACT
ELECTRIC BATTERIES
ELECTRIC-POWERED VEHICLES
ELECTROCHEMICAL CELLS
ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
EVALUATION
FORECASTING
LEAD-ACID BATTERIES
LITHIUM-SULFUR BATTERIES
LOS ANGELES
MARKET
METAL-METAL OXIDE BATTERIES
METAL-NONMETAL BATTERIES
NICKEL-ZINC BATTERIES
NOISE POLLUTION
NORTH AMERICA
PERFORMANCE
POLLUTION
PUBLIC UTILITIES
REVIEWS
SIMULATION
URBAN AREAS
USA
VEHICLES
WASHINGTON DC
WESTERN REGION