MIT Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

Electric Vehicle Technology Today

James Worden
Selectria Corp.

Monday, November 17, 1997
4:00 PM (refreshments 3:45)
Edgerton Hall, Room 34-101
EECS Colloquium

Abstract

Electric vehicles (EVs) have been around since the turn of the century, but have not played a major part in US industry for many decades. More recently they have been the subject of heated debate among scientists, industry representatives, environmentalists and politicians. During the past few years significant improvement in EV performance has been made possible by technological advances in batteries, power electronics and other relevant fields.

The growing dependence on foreign oil sources, the increasing cost of fossil fuels and persistent transportation-related environmental problems all increase the interest in the potential of EVs. This talk will deal with key questions in the current state of the comparison of EVs with internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs), including the following:

• Are EVs more efficient than ICEVs as measured by the BTU of fuel used per mile?

• Are EVs really cleaner than ICEVs or do they simply move pollution from highways and cities to generating stations?

• Can EVs be affordable?

• If the US had EVs ready to sell, would they be of interest to foreign markets?