3FOOD

Third Industrial Revolution Consulting Group
price gap versus conventional vehicles and range anxiety – will require further actions in
Luxembourg in the long term.
1.1 Technical
When approaching the question of electric vehicles, it is key to establish a clear distinction
between individual cars, public transport, and freight transport (last-mile, long and very long
distances). Each of these aspects represents a different challenge. Deploying electric cars is the
most challenging intervention, because of the number of vehicles and the infrastructure
required. Trucks and public transport, in turn, pose a challenge because of the size and weight
of the energy storage (batteries). The electric bikes (pedelecs) technology is the most mature
and widely accepted by the public.
1.1.1 Battery vs. Hydrogen electric power supply.
There are two mainstream technologies today to store on-board and retrieve the energy
required for electric traction: batteries and hydrogen gas coupled with fuel cells (HFC). Both
technologies present advantages and disadvantages. However, the widespread availability of
battery electric vehicles and charging stations compared to the marginal existing offer of highly
priced hydrogen powered vehicles, as well as the lack refueling infrastructure and high
production costs of hydrogen, all lead to a clear advantage of the battery stored solution in the
short to mid-term.
1.1.2 Batteries as a power supply for electric vehicles.
Lithium Ion batteries are technically consolidated, relatively cheap, widely available, efficient,
safe and reliable to use. The existing electricity distribution network can serve as a “fuel
distribution network”, without requiring building a wholly new network and removing most fuel
tanker trucks from the streets.
Unfortunately, the energy density even of the best batteries is very low compared to that of
fossil fuels: it takes on average 40-90 kg of Li-ion batteries to store the energy equivalent of one
litre of diesel fuel. Even accounting for the higher efficiency of electric motors, in order to
obtain a range of 500 km, a car would need to carry more than half a ton of batteries and a bus
would need nearly three tons. Technological improvements in battery technologies can reduce
costs and increase public acceptance of EVs. Price is predicted to reach slightly over 100 euros
per kWh over the next 15 years, which is less than half of the cost today. New innovations for
batteries in the form of larger capacity, less weight, and smaller size will contribute to the
falling costs of battery technology. Although constant progress is being made in this area, the
current state of the technology prevents the use of batteries in larger vehicles such as trucks
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