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Electric Vehicle Adoption Potential in the United States [video]- Carnegie Mellon Department of Engineering and Public Policy

Costs and Benefits of Electric Vehicles in the United States [video]- Carnegie Mellon Department of Engineering and Public Policy

Transcript

HOST: Will everyone be driving a plug-in electric vehicle in the future? On this week’s Energy Bite, Jeremy Michalek, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, has some answers.

MICHALEK: Plug-in electric vehicles today make up much less than 1% of vehicles on the road. Right now, the biggest challenges include high cost, limited range, slow recharging, and lack of consumer familiarity.

But even if these problems are all solved, we’ll still face challenges. For example, even though most US households have off-street parking where a vehicle charger could be installed, many don’t have enough spaces for all of their vehicles.

So, a 100% electric vehicle fleet is likely unrealistic without major infrastructure changes.

HOST: So what will our vehicle fleet look like in the future?

MICHALEK: While we’re not likely to stop using oil for the foreseeable future, we will use a lot less of it because of a range of technologies. It’s unlikely that plug-in electric vehicles will make up the entire future vehicle fleet. It’s more likely that we’ll see a mix of technologies in the future – we’ll need more than one solution to cut emissions and address oil dependency.

HOST: What transportation will you be using in the future? Take our poll, see the results, and ask your energy questions at Energy Bite dot org.