Electric Vehicles: Consumer Transport Industry

Electric Vehicles: Consumer Transport Industry
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Electric Vehicles: Consumer Transport Industry
1 What is the technological innovation you have selected, and how is it used in this industry? Provide a historical overview of the innovation and describe how it emerged.
Defining Electric Vehicles and their Usage in Consumer Transport Industry
Electric vehicles (EVs) are among the latest innovations addressing environmental concerns. EVs refer to vehicles that use electricity from an external power source to operate (Moon, Park, Jeong, & Lee, 2018). The electricity is stored in rechargeable batteries, and these batteries power the electric motor, allowing the vehicle to move. However, some EV types do not have rechargeable batteries and cannot be recharged from an external source. The various types of EVs include plug-in-hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), battery electric vehicles (BEVs), fully electric vehicles (FEVs), and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) (Sun et al., 2020).
EVs have gained popularity within the consumer transport industry in recent years. According to a report by Ernest and Young, about 52% of consumers who intend to buy a car in the next two years will choose an EV (Miller et al., 2022). This shift has been attributed to increased trust in EV technology among individual consumers and an increased desire to protect the environment. EVs are used in the consumer transport industry to facilitate mobility. Public policies have highly incentivized personal use and privately-owned EVs across many regions (World Economic Forum, 2018). These incentives include free parking, tax rebates, and financial incentives to encourage the use of EVs to facilitate personal/private mobility. According to Jaiswal et al. (2021), policymakers and environmental experts advocate for the use of EVs for personal transportation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote sustainable transport. EVs have become popular among consumers interested in sustainable mobility.
Historical Overview of EVs
Despite gaining popularity in recent years, EV technology is not a new concept. According to Sun et al. (2020), EVs have been around for over 100 years. The history of EVs can be traced back to the 1800s when batteries and electric motors were introduced. The U.S. Department of Energy (2014) reveals that the first small-scale electric cars were developed between 1828 and 1835. By the 1900s, EVs were quite popular for personal transport. Specifically, they were most preferred by urban women because they were easy to drive and lacked the smelly pollutant emitted by gasoline-powered cars. Increased access to electricity in the early 1900s made it easier to charge EVs, further increasing their adoption. At the time, about a third of all vehicles were electric (U.S Department of Energy, 2014).
However, the success of EVs was short-lived. The development and mass production of Model T, a gasoline-powered vehicle, in 1908 disrupted the EVs market (Sun et al., 2020). Model T was cheaper than EVs and widely available. In addition, gasoline was also cheaper and readily available, especially to consumers in rural areas who had no access to elect...