Electric Vehicle Market Overview and Trends

Currently, the electric vehicles and hybrids may seem like newly developed innovations. However, the narrative about them begins in the mid-19th century.

The construction of electric vehicles has a direct link with the development of batteries. The first lead-acid battery designed by Gastón Planté in 1859 was used by many cars from the early 1880s in France, the US and the UK.

During the second half of the same decade, the first internal combustion engine was introduced. In 1903, there were about 4,000 cars registered in New York City, 53 % steam, 27% gasoline, and 20 % electric. But in that same period, the car's internal combustion figure was 30 times more significant.

Among the drivers of the decline of electric vehicle is the Henry Serie car production system, which allowed the final values of fuel vehicles to be half that of electric cars. Smaller manufacturing began in the 1930s, losing all market potential [1].

The Clean Air Act Amendment of 1990 and the Energy Policy Act of 1992 in the United States helped to stimulate investment again in electric vehicles. The California Air Resources Board also approved new regulations that required automakers to produce and sell a zero-emission vehicle to market their cars in the state.

From the 2000s onwards, the sector's industry gained more space again. In 2012, Tesla began delivering its Model S, its second long-range electric car, and in 2017, major manufacturers such as BMW and General Motors were already investing in electric vehicle manufacturing. Other traditional automakers such as Ford, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen are also increasing investment in the area.

Return to the market

Population, technological and industrial growth has promoted a revolution in the mobility sector in recent decades. The means of collective and individual transport consists of a vehicle with an internal combustion engine (ICE).

ICE generates in the use of polluting particles causing respiratory problems, as it is also responsible for directly contributing to global warming [1].

Furthermore, concern for the environment due to greenhouse gases emitted by conventional internal combustion engines is seen as an important factor that is accelerating and sustaining the growth of this technology.

IRENA (International Renewable Energy Agency) [2], in its market research showed that sales of electric vehicles increased by approximately 58 %, surpassing the 2 million mark in 2018. And it is expected that by 2050 there will be more than one billion electric vehicles distributed among electric buses, motorcycles, quadricycles and trucks.

Electric vehicles versus Internal combustion vehicle

From an environmental point of view, internal combustion engines generate direct impacts, such as greenhouse gas emissions. It has a direct impact on human health from air pollution as a result of the gasoline combustion process.

When analyzing electric vehicles, we see that there is no direct emission in operation. Its consequences are indirectly derived from a set of parameters that are present mainly in the manufacture of batteries and the level of pollution caused by the generation sources of the electrical grid that will supply this electric vehicle [1].

These issues raised can be mitigated, for example, by investing in renewable energy systems such as solar photovoltaic and wind power to power the battery bank of electric vehicles. Other solutions are in the development of lower impact battery technologies and recycling systems that can achieve the 100% rate of component reuse.

Main components of an electric vehicle

Fully electric vehicles, or battery electric vehicles as they are also known, feature an electric motor instead of an internal combustion engine. It uses a traction battery to power the electric motor and the charging process must be carried out by connecting to a charging station or charging socket [1].

The components of an electric vehicle are presented below according to Figure 3 [1, 4].

• Electric traction motor: transforms electrical energy into movement in the car. Various types of electric motors can be used for AC and DC conversions. Some vehicles use engine generators that perform drive and regeneration functions;
• Traction Battery: stores electricity for use by the electric motor;
• Auxiliary battery: provides electricity to power the vehicle's accessories;
• Charging Port: Allows the vehicle to connect to an external power source to charge the traction battery;
• DC/DC Converter: Converts high-voltage DC power from the traction battery into the low-voltage DC power needed to power the vehicle's accessories and recharge the auxiliary battery;
• Onboard charger: uses the incoming AC electricity provided by the station and converts it to DC power to charge the traction battery;
• Controller: manages the flow of electrical energy supplied by the traction battery, controlling the speed of the electric traction motor and the torque it produces;
• Cooling system: Maintains an adequate operating temperature range of EV components;
• Electric transmission: transfers mechanical energy from the electric drive motor to drive the wheels.

Charging station for electric vehicle power

Load one electric vehicle It's not a difficult task, in reality it's very similar to the connection you make to power your cell phone from the electricity grid. Both technologies use rechargeable lithium-ion and nickel-metal hydride batteries.

The use of lithium-ion batteries, in particular, has dominated research around the world for the development of high-performance batteries for applications not only in vehicles, but for storage in photovoltaic and wind systems [1].

Just as cell phones need their own USB cable for this connection, electric vehicles require cables with specific plug-ins for this type of connection and sources. Connections to the electrical network can be made from a simple socket, while others require custom installations.

The time it takes to charge your car also varies based on the type of charger used. The charging station is also known as an electric charging point, charging point and electrostation (Figure 2). The equipment that makes the connection between electric vehicles and the energy distribution network has great physical similarity to gas stations [5].

Types of charging stations

ABNT adopted IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) standards 61851 and 62196 to govern the requirements for electric vehicle charging equipment and connectors. This standard, in Brazil, is NBR/IEC 62196, which presents classifications regarding the charging modes that we can perform [5]. In general, top-ups can be carried out through:

1. Residential domestic recharge: the plug-in cable comes standard for connection to residential sockets;
2. Wallbox charger: physical interface installed in the home in a single-phase or three-phase standard. This device makes it possible to monitor the electric vehicle's energy consumption, program it for charging at lower cost tariff flags and contains internal safety equipment against electric shock, atmospheric discharges and voltage spikes;
3. Charging stations: the equipment has a larger physical structure and is used in public stations, work environments, commerce and roads. They can also be found in Toten or Fast Charge structure. In this mode, high energy availability is required, as charging time is less than 2 hours.

Remembering that the general purpose socket can be used for charging, but must be inspected to assess whether the installation complies with the Brazilian standard NBR 5410 and the company's own recharging specifications. electric car.

Perspectives on EV and solar energy

The 2019 IRENA report on the future of solar PV highlights that there is a need to accelerate energy transformation over the next three decades and the use of solar generation is essential to achieving climate goals.

With the prospect of massive and accelerated deployment combined with deeper electrification, up to 21% of CO₂ emission reductions (almost 4.9 gigatons per year) are predicted by 2050 [6]. As one of the obstacles to be faced in the massive adoption of EV is energy supply, the expansion of distributed generation (DG) is inevitable.

The adoption of solar energy in charging infrastructures is a solution that adds greater economic and environmental value to the insertion of these technologies. Annual energy-related CO2 emissions need to decrease by 70% from current levels by 2050 to meet climate targets [2].

The integration of green technologies is not only part of a solution to this major problem, but also alleviates in advance other obstacles that may arise over the years, such as providing adequate and sufficient energy to the distribution network to support the process of expanding electric mobility and other means of consumption.

References

• [1] COSTA, TS; et al. 2018. Electric Vehicle Review. Preprint
• [2] IRENA – International Renewable Energy Agency. 2019. How to transform energy system and reduce carbon emissions
• [3] AFDC: Alternative Fuels Data Center, 2019. How do all-electric cars work? Alternative Fuels Data Center – US Department of Energy
• [4] COSTA, TS; et al. 2020. Charging station with autonomous hybrid system for electric vehicles applied to the Tapajós-Arapiuns Extractive Reserve (In press). VIII Brazilian Solar Energy Congress, Fortaleza
• [5] COSTA, TS 2019. Study and simulation of hybrid photovoltaic systems for autonomous and grid-connected application. Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, Master's Thesis
• [6] IRENA – International Renewable Energy Agency. 2019. Future of solar photovoltaics. ISBN: 978-92-9260-156-0