Electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles and fuel cell electric vehicles: State of the art and perspectives

In urban areas, due to their beneficial effects on the environment, electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles and fuel cell electric vehicles are an important factor for the improvement of traffic and more particularly for a healthier environment. We are quite rapidly reaching the end of the cheap oil era. This could happen around 2010 and is nowadays probably indicated by the steadily growing oil price. Therefore the need for alternative energy sources is growing and the competitiveness of alternatives against oil is becoming more and more realistic. Electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles and fuel cell electric vehicles are offering the best possibility for the use of new energy sources, because electricity can result from a transformation with high efficiency of these sources and is always used with the highest possible efficiency in systems with electric drives or components. Some basic considerations about the situation, today and in a mid and long-term perspective, are presented together with the infrastructure developments.