Electric Cars -What is the future ?

Findings by Transportation Research Board Business Office,Washington (USA) show that
Driven by concerns related to climate change and the depletion of fossil fuels, there is a renewed interest in electric cars. Because electric cars are more expensive than fossil fuel cars, have a limited range and battery charging facilities are still limited, the question is to what extent they will penetrate the market. This paper reports on a state choice experiment conducted in the Netherlands to examine the car drivers’ trade off among purchase price, range, fuel cost reduction and the availability of slow and fast battery charging facilities. The results indicate that especially purchase price, range and the availability of fast charging facilities influence electric car purchase. The results further indicate that market shares for the typical electric cars now available on the market probably will remain low and the target of 200,000 electric cars in the Netherlands in 2020 will likely not be met without policy measures. The analysis suggests that providing a purchase subsidy of 5000 euro and realizing fast battery facilities at all fuel stations both can stimulate electric car purchase to about the same extent. However, providing fast charging facilities is a cheaper option and therefore may be considered the more cost-effective policy measure.