TY  - JOUR
A1  - Weiss, Martin
A1  - Cloos, Kira Christina
A1  - Helmers, Eckard
T1  - Energy efficiency trade-offs in small to large electric vehicles
T2  - Environmental Sciences Europe
N2  - Background: As electric kick scooters, three-wheelers, and passenger cars enter the streets, efficiency trade-offs across vehicle types gain practical relevance for consumers and policy makers. Here, we compile a comprehensive dataset of 428 electric vehicles, including seven vehicle types and information on certified and real-world energy consumption. Regression analysis is applied to quantify trade-offs between energy consumption and other vehicle attributes.

Results: Certified and real-world energy consumption of electric vehicles increase by 60% and 40%, respectively, with each doubling of vehicle mass, but only by 5% with each doubling of rated motor power. These findings hold roughly also for passenger cars whose energy consumption tends to increase 0.6 ± 0.1 kWh/100 km with each 100 kg of vehicle mass. Battery capacity and vehicle mass are closely related. A 10 kWh increase in battery capacity increases the mass of electric cars by 15 kg, their drive range by 40–50 km, and their energy consumption by 0.7–1.0 kWh/100 km. Mass-produced state-of-the-art electric passenger cars are 2.1 ± 0.8 kWh/100 km more efficient than first-generation vehicles, produced at small scale.

Conclusion: Efficiency trade-offs in electric vehicles differ from those in conventional cars—the latter showing a strong dependency of fuel consumption on rated engine power. Mass-related efficiency trade-offs in electric vehicles are large and could be tapped by stimulating mode shift from passenger cars to light electric road vehicles. Electric passenger cars still offer potentials for further efficiency improvements. These could be exploited through a dedicated energy label with battery capacity as utility parameter.
KW  - Elektromobilität
KW  - Elektrofahrzeug
KW  - electric vehicles
KW  - efficiency trade-offs
KW  - e-boards
KW  - e-bikes
KW  - electric kick scooters
KW  - electric motorcycles
KW  - electric three- and four-wheelers
KW  - electric cars
KW  - electric light commercial vehicles
KW  - electric trucks
KW  - climate policy
KW  - sustainable road transport
KW  - urban mobility
Y1  - 2020
UR  - https://hst.opus.hbz-nrw.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/97
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hbz:tr5-970
VL  - 32
SP  - 1
EP  - 17
PB  - SpringerOpen
ER  -