Electric vehicles (EVs), including battery-powered electric vehicles (BEVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) (Fig. 1a), are key to the electrification of road transport 1.
Is EV storage a large-scale energy storage system?
Considering the electrical grid and the thermal energy supply network as an integrated energy system, the combination of EV storage with batteries for vehicle propulsion and TES for thermal management functions is akin to a large-scale energy storage system.
The emergence of large-scale energy storage systems is contingent on the successful commercial deployment of TES techniques for EVs, which is set to influence all forms of transport as vehicle electrification progresses, including cars, buses, trucks, trains, ships, and even airplanes (see Fig. 4).
What are the different types of energy storage solutions in electric vehicles?
Battery, Fuel Cell, and Super Capacitor are energy storage solutions implemented in electric vehicles, which possess different advantages and disadvantages.
Briefly, two other potential ways to store energy on a large scale are flywheels and a smart grid. The concept behind flywheels is fairly simple in that it is just the conversion of electrical energy to rotational kinetic energy for storage and then conversion back to electrical energy using a generator for extraction.
When these sources inevitably become more prevalent in the future, the combination of production unpredictability and lack of mass storage will result in energy waste, offsetting any potential benefits gained. Therefore it is of the utmost importance to research and develop effective means for large scale energy storage.
Another alternative energy storage for vehicles are hydrogen FCs, although, hydrogen has a lower energy density compared to batteries.