Transitioning to Electric Vehicles

“At the moment, electric vehicles are still somewhat more expensive than new vehicles. The greater context is that all new vehicles in the United States are pretty expensive right now. The average new vehicle price is just under $50,000—at $49,000, which provides some sticker shock for people. The average price of a new electric vehicle is on the order of $63,000, so it is more expensive. However, there’s some important context here. Electric vehicles are much more likely to be luxury vehicles. A higher fraction of the electric-vehicle offerings are luxury vehicles than gasoline vehicle offerings. When you compare electric vehicles to comparable gasoline vehicles—so other luxury vehicles—electric vehicles are actually on par or not much more expensive at the moment.” (Posted April 11, 2023 | Download Video)

Kenneth Gillingham, Ph.D.
Professor of environmental & energy economics, Yale University Grab This Quote

“So electric vehicles cost more up front because there’s so much energy and technology embodied by that battery. But over time you save it on operating costs and maintenance costs. For example, it costs about 10 cents per kilowatt hour, and that kilowatt hour of electricity will take you about four miles. So you’ll spend about two and a half cents per mile of distance. But if you buy a gas-consuming vehicle that gets maybe 25 miles per gallon, and you’re paying, you know, $3 per gallon, you’re going to be spending more than 10 cents per mile. And most vehicles go about 10,000 miles per year—the newer ones tend to travel more per year. So you’ll quickly make that back even at the United States’ incredibly low gas prices.” (Posted April 11, 2023 | Download Video)

Kara M. Kockelman, Ph.D., P.E.
Dewitt Greer Centennial Professor of Transportation Engineering, University of Texas at Austin Grab This Quote

“Electric vehicles are generally more expensive than gasoline-powered vehicles because electric vehicles need a large amount of battery. However, if gas prices are high, the savings from using electricity rather than using gasoline will generally all come in a few years. Typically we think that about at the $6.50 [per gallon price level] electric vehicles are going to make more sense than gasoline vehicles.” (Posted April 11, 2023)

Chris Mi, Ph.D.
Director, GATE Center for Electric Drive Transportation, San Diego State University Grab This Quote

“There are many technologies that are out there. In the short run, battery manufacturers are working hard to reduce the amount of cobalt in batteries, which could really lower the price and improve the range. And this is happening all the time with innovation. LFP batteries, or lithium ferrous phosphate—which are kind of iron and phosphate batteries—are one type that’s already out there in some vehicles. Then moving forward in the next several years, many analysts expect there to be some great developments in solid-state batteries. That’s the technology to watch out for. That could double the energy density of batteries—so potentially doubling the electric vehicle range and reduce the costs quite substantially. And then even further, there are additional technologies like silicon ion and graphene batteries that have real potential.” (Posted April 11, 2023 | Download Video)

Kenneth Gillingham, Ph.D.
Professor of environmental & energy economics, Yale University Grab This Quote

“Absolutely. So to help get away from cobalt in the Congo and other hard-to-acquire minerals, for example, we definitely have a variety of technology. So the phosphate technology is a big one right now. I think it results in slightly larger batteries, but it’s definitely worth it in terms of sustainability.” (Posted April 11, 2023 | Download Video)

Kara M. Kockelman, Ph.D., P.E.
Dewitt Greer Centennial Professor of Transportation Engineering, University of Texas at Austin Grab This Quote

“Solid-state batteries seem to be the choice. Solid-state batteries use solid electrolyte instead of liquid electrolyte. Solid-state batteries have better performance and a lower cost. However, they suffer from a shorter life cycle at the present time. Experts believe that over the next five to 10 years, solid state batteries can improve their performance, especially in the life cycle. And when that happens, they will make electric vehicles more affordable.” (Posted April 11, 2023)

Chris Mi, Ph.D.
Director, GATE Center for Electric Drive Transportation, San Diego State University Grab This Quote

“We already have most of what we need to support an all-electric fleet. Obviously, we will need far more fast-charging stations and charging stations. Associated with those charging stations would be electric grid improvements, particularly if we’re going to allow for very fast charging stations. So one example is the Kia EV6 has an 800 amp charging capacity, which can go from zero to 200 miles of range in 18 minutes. But this draws very quickly from the grid. And if we’re going to have fast charging stations of this type—these are Level 3 stations—we’re going to need to do some more grid upgrades. But there’s also a huge opportunity here, which is from vehicle-to-grid or vehicle-to-everything, allowing the grid to draw upon batteries that are sitting in garages during times of peak need, which could actually help us manage our grid better.” (Posted April 11, 2023 | Download Video)

Kenneth Gillingham, Ph.D.
Professor of environmental & energy economics, Yale University Grab This Quote

“I would love to see demand management. Most of us plug in our vehicles for many hours, and they only need to top off if we plug them in regularly—or in my household’s case will plug in every 10 days. And so it might be charging for four or five hours, but it’s plugged in for about 12 or more. So if my utility could manage the demand, that would help them harness more renewables like wind and solar in powering my electric vehicle and reduce emissions for everybody—and reduce costs for everyone, as well. So the grid can handle that demand right now, especially in places where we already have air conditioning because air conditioning added a lot of load. And Texas has had air conditioning on pretty much every house for decades. California is adding it, and so are many other more northern climates.” (Posted April 11, 2023 | Download Video)

Kara M. Kockelman, Ph.D., P.E.
Dewitt Greer Centennial Professor of Transportation Engineering, University of Texas at Austin Grab This Quote

“Well, first of all, we might need to have more generation to support electrical vehicle charging. And then, secondly, we will need storage solutions to provide the energy we need when the peak demand is coming. However, in the future, we may be able to use the electric vehicle battery as distributed energy storage, so that we can store energy when the grid has excess energy and then we can use that energy when the power demand is really high on the grid. And then consumers of electric vehicles would get incentives by using their battery for the grid storage.” (Posted April 11, 2023)

Chris Mi, Ph.D.
Director, GATE Center for Electric Drive Transportation, San Diego State University Grab This Quote

“With electric vehicle charging, we are going to have more demand on the grid. We do have to wait for more renewables to come on the grid, and we’re going to see more renewables coming on the grid quite rapidly in the next few years. That’s the way the market is heading. So you not only can wait for the grid to get cleaner, which means that over time, electric vehicles are going to be cleaner and cleaner. But there are actually things you can do today to allow electric vehicle charging to be as low carbon-intensity and as clean as possible. And there are apps that you can use to charge your car at times of low carbon intensity. And these will serve to make electric vehicle charging as clean as possible.” (Posted April 11, 2023 | Download Video)

Kenneth Gillingham, Ph.D.
Professor of environmental & energy economics, Yale University Grab This Quote

“EV charging won’t add that much demand to our grid, maybe 20%, if everything were to electrify overnight—which is impossible. Our vehicles are held for 16 or more years before they’re scrapped on average. So it takes a long time to turn over the fleet. But the grid, the easiest way—even if we were to wave a magic wand and electrify everything tonight—you just need to kind of manage that demand, just like we do with smart thermostats. A lot of us have those here in Texas. And when we get to a case where we’re close to capacity, which would normally be a summer afternoon, and if everybody were to plug in their electric vehicles, they just make sure that those of us who don’t need the car right away can wait until the morning to have it charged. So they wait until the peak passes, and then they start the charging on those vehicles. And, of course, most people can stand to wait. So it’s a perfect balance.” (Posted April 11, 2023 | Download Video)

Kara M. Kockelman, Ph.D., P.E.
Dewitt Greer Centennial Professor of Transportation Engineering, University of Texas at Austin Grab This Quote

“If we continue to use traditional generation, such as coal-fired plants, electric vehicles are not going to provide as much environmental benefits as we would like. So integrating renewable energy is probably the best solution to support not just the grid, but also electric vehicle deployment. So in the future, we will need to install more energy storage systems along with new renewable energy systems. In the meantime, we should be able to use the electric vehicle batteries as a buffer as well, to store the renewable energy when we produce more than what we need.” (Posted April 11, 2023)

Chris Mi, Ph.D.
Director, GATE Center for Electric Drive Transportation, San Diego State University Grab This Quote