In order to achieve effective decarbonization and reduce road transport emissions, it is essential to successfully address the main challenges of vehicle fleet electrification.
The future of mobility is linked to electrification. A transition towards a more sustainable travel model with a multitude of benefits, and one which also takes on significant challenges related to improving the usability and optimization of its systems.
To accelerate the spread of electric vehicles and guarantee their success, new technologies are key tools in this change. There are many varied lines of research that are conducted to improve the performance of these automobiles and make them more appealing to purchase and use.
We can highlight three key areas focusing on advances in this field.
- Battery range
- Charging infrastructure
- Integration of new systems
1. Increased battery life
One of the most important areas of improvement within electric mobility is related to batteries and their range. Increasing the time vehicles can circulate without having to be charged can exponentially improve their level of usability and comfort by reducing the number of charging stops that need to be made. Today, the driving range is between 200 and 350 kilometers in mid-range vehicles, but newer models can reach between 600 and 750 km.
Different avenues of research are being followed to progressively increase these figures and reduce the number of charges. For example, those related to the use of batteries with greater energy density, such as those based on lithium-ion, or new developments from metal-air, which can increase range by up to ten times.
In addition to focusing on new combinations of materials, work is also being done on improving the battery's chemical elements and the cell format, highlighting the advances in LFP battery cells, which will replace the current NCA/NCM, and that provide greater capacity, are lighter, and have a longer life-cycle.
It is also worth highlighting the advances in solid-state batteries with greater stability, safety, and energy density, as well as the manufacture of dry battery electrodes, which Tesla is currently investigating, or dual-chemistry batteries, depending on the distance.
2. Deployment of optimal charging infrastructure
The second challenge facing electric mobility is related to the number and quality of charging points available. Although they have gradually increased in recent years, this growth is not happening fast enough and is below the standards observed in other countries.
Taking into account ANFAC data, public access charging points in our country increased by 2,420 points in the third quarter of 2023. Featured quote
In this field, innovative projects are being developed, such as electric stations, service stations focused especially on charging electric and hybrid vehicles. Installations that also link their electricity supply to renewable sources such as photovoltaic solar energy.
Infrastructure improvements are not only a question of quantity, but also efficiency and speed when recharging. Today, the standard waiting time would be around 4 or 8 hours in a domestic environment, but there are already ultra-fast charging infrastructures on the market that allow up to 80% of the battery's range to be recovered in just 15 or 20 minutes.
Another of the most cutting-edge technologies being developed in this area is wireless charging. In addition to being able to charge your car just by approaching a certain charging point without the need for plugging it in, research into dynamic wireless charging is also being conducted. This is based on implementing charging systems that would be placed under the pavement and allow for a vehicle to be recharged while in motion.
3. Integration of new systems in electric vehicles
New technologies can be great allies when it comes to improving vehicle performance and the user's driving experience. These lines of research focus both on achieving greater control of the vehicle's design and components, and on promoting system customization to adapt it to each driver's needs.
In this first line of work related to design, the highlights are the advances in power inverters that allow, among other things, to configure the vehicle performance; or the improvements in thermal management systems to precisely control battery cooling, and improve the charging speeds and efficiency of the entire process.
Among the technological innovations, it is also worth highlighting the new V2G (Vehicle to Grid) systems. This is a two-way energy protocol that allows an electric vehicle's battery to function as a mobile energy source, which can not only be charged, but also transfer energy to the electrical grid if not used. There are also other similar technologies such as V2H (Vehicle to Home) that allows an electric car to supply electricity to a house or building or V2L (Vehicle to Load) that can supply another electric vehicle, device, or tool.
If we talk about personalization and configurations adapted to the each driver's needs, AI is currently one of the main protagonists in this field. Configuring this tool in an electric vehicle allows, among other things, to plan traffic and optimize routes to improve efficiency, as well as interact with the vehicle using voice commands to open doors, regulate the temperature, or implement driving assistance.
As technology steadily advances, electric mobility also progresses and further strengthens its leadership as a solution to decarbonizing transportation. We have to keep working to drive this change and make the most of the opportunities from this form of sustainable mobility.
