Transportation experts and environmentalists dream of a future in which vehicles are fleet based and not privately owned, where they are autonomous and not operated by drivers and where they are powered by electric motors instead of gasoline and diesel. But how would such a future become possible? This blog has looked into car sharing and AVs before. This article is about electrification.

Transportation electrification: Clean air through clean buses

The United States is with 1-2% electric vehicles in the mix far behind global leader Norway (somewhere beyond 30%). People don't know much about electric vehicles but many know the term "range anxiety" and have heard that electric vehicles use at least three different types of "plugs" for charging, making hard to find charging stations even more elusive. They have heard that batteries contain pollutants, are expensive to replace and that the materials that go into them are found in only a few places in the world. What hit the news was that Lithium Ion batteries can spectacularly go up in flames why certain smart phones had been banned on planes. In short, public perception isn't great, no matter that Tesla has greatly altered the preconceived notion that electric propulsion is only for golf carts or maybe Smart Car two-seaters. But experts are pretty certain that an electric driving "tipping point" is near:

Range anxiety: Running out of charge

A revolution is underway in transportation, with a variety of electric vehicles rapidly coming to the fore. The switch from internal combustion engines to electric motors will change the world in many ways and is expected to help reduce the world's carbon dioxide emissions. Inspired by this vision, leaders in China, France, and Britain