Electric cars in Denmark, better place concept

Abstract

[EN] Electric cars are one step to a zero-emission future. At the moment, there is no really breakthrough of this technology and there is also a low demand in Demark. To get a future prospective about this, the objective of this project is to determine if electric cars are suitable as family car, in comparison with traditional petrol/diesel cars and other future technologies. The main aim is to make a proposition for the purchase of cars in Denmark for a Danish family in the next 5 – 10 years. This project includes a look at the Better Place concept, which is a company willing to integrate electric cars in Denmark. To achieve this target, the project group starts with the current state research of electric cars. To create a future forecast the project group built up four scenarios: oil price development, battery development, other technologies and urban planning. Also the Better place is analysed. A cost calculator is made to have an overview about the costs. The results of the battery analysis are that the performance of the batteries will increase without making them bigger; at once the price will drop because of the higher production volume and the production optimization. The urban planning scenario showed that almost whole Denmark is covered with the switching stations but the quick charging technology will be more important for the future and therefore the government has to invest more money to push the electric car. In the scenario of the future technologies the upcoming fuel cell car can easily keep up with the electric car. Unclear is when exactly the fuel cell car will be available at the market. In Denmark the electric cars have the best results in the cost calculation because of the high registration costs for traditional cars. The oil price development shows that there will not be any major changes in the prices in the following medium term which is not benefiting the electric car. The benefits will come in the long term where the lack of oil comes to be present. To continue, there is no general answer to the problem. Better Place is not an option any more, the company is bankrupt and there are no further plans to keep the concept running. For Danish families, the most important factors are the area where they live and their driving habits (how, where, how far and how long). At the moment, it makes more sense to buy a traditional car with a diesel/petrol engine because those engines are getting more and more efficient. Nevertheless, the future will be the electric along with the fuel cell car. But it will take another few years until they are comparable to traditional cars in terms of costs, range and infrastructure.