Engineering the EV future

Continuing environmental concerns are moving electric vehicles (EV) into high gear at development facilities everywhere. The General Motors EV1 and the Ford Ranger EV are old news, the 106 Electric from PSA Peugeot-Citroen is established in France, where more than 1500 have been sold, and Toyota's Prius hybrid electric vehicle has exceeded all expectations in Japan, with plans afoot for an early introduction in the United States. In share-of-market terms, electric vehicles (EVs) are just beginning their infancy, total worldwide sales will be measured in the thousands of cars in 1998, compared with perhaps 20 million vehicles sold in all. But the big companies at long last are taking EVs seriously. The question now seems to be not whether automobiles will go electric but when. Battery, fuel cell and hybrid vehicles are briefly reviewed in this article.