The Status and Challenges of Electric Vehicles

The deployment of electric vehicles has not yet met the goals of government policy. This is due to several reasons, among which are the perceived disadvantage of limited range, the lack of widely available charging infrastructure, and cost. In this talk we will explore the benefits of EVs, their perceived disadvantages, their economics including the geographic diversity of electricity costs, the current level of EV sales and its trends among different manufacturers, and some of the reasons for the lack of charging infrastructure. We will look at a few of the technology advancements in the design of EVs, the status of battery chemistries, and the need for standardization of the charging interface. We will conclude with a brief summary of the National Research Council’s 2015 report “Overcoming Barriers to deployment of Plug-In Electric Vehicles” and what progress has been made since that review.

Speaker: John Kassakian, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Emeritus

Attend in person or online