Electric vehicles (EVs) are getting more and more popular with every passing year. Today, nearly 3 million more are sold every year than in 2011, according to IEA statistics. With sales, comes innovation, and there are some truly futuristic new technologies that are driving the newest and greatest generation of EVs.
The Age of Convenience
A major hurdle for EVs has been the availability of charging stations. According to The Verge, the current network of 22,000 charging stations across North America is vastly inadequate given that there are over 168,000 gas stations.
Addressing this deficit, and also tackling the ever-present desire for convenience, are solar carports. Providing energy during vehicle downtime, they are harnessing sophisticated new energy cell technology to naturally provide charging to the car and create profit for the owner through grid sell-back.
Tackling Range Anxiety
One of the key concerns of unconverted conventional car drivers is range anxiety. Electric vehicles are perceived as having the potential to drain and leave someone stranded, far from any opportunity to charge it, leading to costly tow costs.
According to UK magazine Autocar, Williams Advanced Engineering are tackling this head on. Their new Li+ long range battery not only promises to create far extended ranges, but to give the power needed for electric sports cars to become a reality.
Currently held back by the weight and capacity of batteries, the new ultra-compact and light technology being put into cells will allow much higher performance standards.
Rudimentary, but necessary
The delivery industry is a huge contributor to the global climate change challenge, with the global fleet of vans and cars contributing huge sums of CO2 to the atmosphere every year.
Until now, the lack of technology has rendered this a sticking point for EV manufacturers, with their technology simply not able to power the endurance needed by sixteen-wheeler and courier trucks.
This is set to change with UPS debuting their hybrid electric vehicles that are able to switch to EV usage whenever needed. Given that this will be at low speeds, this will be a considerable amount of time spent on the road.
A basic shift in technology, this innovation will nevertheless set the tone for the future and is of paramount importance.
Electric vehicles are here to stay, but have had to work hard to find their niche. Continued innovation is widening that place in the market.
Perhaps the most important innovations will be the simple ones, that pull more buyers into the market and make it possible for daily tasks to be completed in a green way.
