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Electric and hybrid electric vehicles are in the fast lane to wider adoption, according to a new study by University of Michigan researchers.
The researchers analyzed the present status of electric vehicles in the U.S., their life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions, and progress toward lifting barriers to broader acceptance. The study is a literature and technical review that synthesizes and analyzes recent findings from many sources.
"We feel that within the next decade, electric vehicles are positioned to be more suitable for most drivers to use on a daily basis," said Brandon Schoettle, project manager at the U-M Transportation Research Institute. "That's due to recent improvements such as longer driving ranges, faster recharging times and lower vehicle prices."
[...] Schoettle and colleague Michael Sivak, a research professor at UMTRI, found that sales of plug-in electric vehicles in the U.S. have increased by more than 700 percent since 2011.
[...] Other key findings include:
- Availability: The number of individual electric vehicle models that consumers can choose from has increased rapidly, nearly doubling from 13 in model year 2016 to 23 in 2017. Recent price trends make plug-in hybrid vehicles more affordable and more similar in price to the average internal combustion engine vehicle.
- Charging infrastructure: The number of public charging stations has grown rapidly since 2010, with approximately 16,000 now available across the U.S., supplying approximately 35,000 individual connections (for comparison, there are roughly 112,000 gas stations).
- Driving range: The driving distance between charges of battery electric vehicles continues to improve. The range of all electric vehicles has increased to an average of 110 miles. Several studies the researchers cite estimate that a range of 120 miles can cover 99 percent of household vehicle trips.
- Fuel prices Compared to gasoline, electricity prices have been low and stable over the past decade or more, and they're projected to remain that way over the next several decades.
Getting Americans to give up their cars for public transportation may be a tough sell, but if the study is right getting them to switch to electric cars won't be.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by choose another one on Saturday June 24 2017, @11:25AM (1 child)
Urbanization is increasing, but it won't be dense urbanization in the US, because there is plenty of space. It is dense urbanization that makes public transport feasible.
The only caveat I might add to the OPs post is that it is density which makes _mass_ public transport feasible - trains (above or below ground), buses, trams etc. There are other possible public transport solutions that don't rely on having 20+ people wanting to travel between the same endpoints at the same time - whether the future is Uber, Johnny Cabs or whatever I don't know, but I do think once our cars start doing the driving themselves there will be significantly less incentive for private individual ownership.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Saturday June 24 2017, @12:51PM
I agree in that the difference will decline somewhat since no one has to pay for a human driver any more in the non-private case. But there's still going to be a big difference between having your own transportation available when you need it and more expensive transportation available when it gets around to arriving at your departure point. That'll work for some situations and not for others. It'll be interesting to see if the situations it will work for will be good enough improvements to increase US urban density over time.
Car rentals for which you don't have to pay a driver are so expensive that I have already paid for a used car I purchased in 2015 (seven significant one-way interstate trips plus a year and a half of ownership). As a result, I doubt that the automatic car market is going to be cheap compared to ownership.