Electric vehicles (EVs) are not new. EVs have been around in one
form or another since the invention of the automobile. In general, they
use an electric motor for propulsion with batteries for electricity storage.
The energy in the batteries provides all motive and auxiliary
power onboard the vehicle. Batteries are recharged fromgrid electricity
and brake energy recuperation. Potentially, re-charging may take place
from non-grid sources, such as photovoltaic panels. They are promoted
as an environmental innovation. That is an innovation that leads to the
reduction or avoidance of environmental impacts (cf. Beise & Rennings,
2005). Notably, environmental innovations bear as additional driver
regulatory push/pull factors (De Marchi, 2012). However, their overall
impact on the environment depends on the original sources of energy
production (Thomas, 2012).
Throughout the 20th century, several models of electric vehicles
(EVs) were produced, but none became widely adopted by consumers
as the EV lost the competition for mass production of automobiles at
the beginning of the 20th century. Since then, therewere several unsuccessful
attempts to revive EVs. The most significant (1960–1970s) was
linked to congestion problems and the oil crises and was characterized
by large publicly-funded programs for fundamental technical research