Assessing the Deployment of Electric Mobility: A Review

Abstract

The transport sector of the European Union is the only sector of the economy that has been increasing its emissions since 2014. To reduce the use of fossil fuels and achieve the greenhouse gas emissions mitigation target, many countries are focusing on the deployment of electric vehicles. This paper aims at analysing recent literature on the deployment of electric vehicles (EV) and typifying objectives, methods and indicators generally exploited, to better understand the state of the art on this topic. The Web of Science database was used and the results showed that the interest in the topic of electric vehicles has been increasing exponentially since 2010. The main significant indicators and the assessment methodologies were analysed. The indicators identified were aggregated in four main clusters: environmental, economic, social and technical indicators. Although the factors that contribute to EV deployment can vary depending on the regions specific characteristics, most of the research studies pointed out that the main contributors are the high density of recharging points, the existence of government monetary incentives and the lower operational cost of EV.