Elsevier

Energy Policy

Volume 38, Issue 7, July 2010, Pages 3797-3806
Energy Policy

Electric vehicles: The role and importance of standards in an emerging market

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2010.02.059Get rights and content

Abstract

After nearly a century with the internal combustion engine dominating the personal transportation sector, it now appears that the electric vehicle is on the verge of experiencing rapid growth in both developed and developing vehicle markets. The broad-scale adoption of the electric vehicle could bring significant changes for society in terms of not only the technologies we use for personal transportation, but also moving our economies away from petroleum and lessoning the environmental footprint of transportation. This article investigates the role of standards, related training and certification for the electric vehicle. It is argued that the potential for the electric vehicle will be stunted without adequate attention being paid to standards, not only in terms of the speed of its uptake and smoothness of this transition, but also in terms of maintaining compatibility between jurisdictions, safety of the public, and helping to ensure environmental sustainability. We highlight a number of areas where new or adaptations of current standards, training and certification may be needed, notably in terms of batteries and charging infrastructures, electricity distribution and accounting for the environmental characteristics of this electricity, and different aspects of vehicle-to-grid and smart grid technologies.

Introduction

The emerging opportunity for electric vehicles (EV) to revolutionize both the transportation sector and related technological and infrastructure systems over the next 5 to 10 years is immense. In particular, multiple drivers are now lining up to support broad-based adoption of the EV, while new and emerging technologies offer the potential to establish the EV as part of a two-way electricity system, connecting vehicles with the electrical grid through the homes, commercial establishments or other facilities where the EV may be recharged.

In order for there to be a smooth transition to a future where the EV is a viable transportation option, where there are changes in technologies and infrastructure in terms of the linkage of the EV with the electrical grid, and that these processes occur in a way that protects the environment, there will need to be a host of changes in regulatory environments, operating practices, as well as the training and education of related vocations and practitioners. This article investigates the role of codes, standards and related training and certification in this respect. In particular, we outline and emphasize the importance of standardization in fostering and enabling the adoption of the EV and related technologies and identify areas where adaptations of existing standardization or new standardization may be needed.

In 2008 there were less than 500,000 hybrid vehicles sold worldwide, with the market for plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs) still limited to conversions of current technologies or high-end vehicles manufactured by specialty producers. Although currently the EV in its entirety represents a very small proportion of the total number of passenger vehicles in most jurisdictions, it is widely expected that the EV will experience rapid growth over the coming decades. In a 2009 study, JP Morgan estimated that by 2020 11 million EVs could be sold worldwide, including 6 million in North America (Automotive News 2009). According to JP Morgan, this will mean that the EV will equal nearly 20% of the North American market and 13% of the global passenger market at that point in time.

The transition to the EV away from the internal combustion engine is expected to be led by the hybrid gasoline–electric vehicle, with this followed by the PHEV, and then finally the full-scaled BEV (Steenhof and McInnis, 2008). In the short-term, government incentives for the EV related to economic stimulus and international competitiveness, efforts to mitigate climate change, as well as a push by governments to improve energy security will be the major catalysts for the EV. The United States, for example, recently announced upwards of $2.5 billion US of funding and grants for a variety of EV-related companies and initiatives, intending to have one million EVs on the road by 2015 (Anon, 2009a, Anon, 2009b, Anon, 2009c). China, meanwhile, is also focusing on the EV from the perspective of economic and energy policy. Notably, the government has made known its intent to position its auto manufacturing sector to be the largest global producer of EVs with a ten billion yuan ($1.46 billion) program to help its industry with automotive innovation in addition to supporting consumption of the EV through generous fiscal incentives (Bradsher, 2009). The importance of Japan in terms of the EV and the emphasis Japanese automakers are placing on the EV should also be recognized, both due to the leading role the country’s auto manufacturers already have in the hybrid market as well as in terms of the country strength in battery technology development and production.

The impacts of the EV in regards to public health and safety, environmental sustainability, as well as how quick this technology is adopted will be greatly influenced by the standards to which the EV and related infrastructure are designed and the adherence to these standards by manufacturers, technicians, and other related professionals. In this way, standards and training and certification based on these standards will likely come to play an important role in guiding and fostering the transition to the EV over the coming years. Internationally consistent standards will also be critical for ensuring compatibility between jurisdictions, a pivotal point underpinning international trade within the globally interconnected automotive and automotive parts markets and also the compatibility of EV-related infrastructure (Castaldo, 2009).

Standards are also important when considering some of the theoretical underpinnings of standardization and that standards provide a mechanism to share knowledge and make this knowledge of a public good. This in effect increases the economic efficiency of development as producers and developers can share in best practices and lessons learn change learned to learnt. It is also important that, given the diverse and wide spectrum of technologies involved with the EV and seeing the varying level of development of each, standardization will have to play varying roles across the development spectrum. Namely, some technologies are more advanced, while others, and in particular those related to both batteries and V2G technologies, are at earlier stages of development. In this respect and as discussed throughout this paper, it will be important that standardization be undertaken from a performance-based perspective so that further technological advancement is compatible with all components of the EV electrotechnical system, safe, and environmentally sustainable.

The majority of standards are developed using a consensus-based approach, where stakeholders and experts from industry, government, academia, and the informed public come to agreement on acceptable performance levels and procedures. Their development is not directly under the control of government in most countries, but rather facilitated by accredited Standards Development Organizations (SDOs). SDOs help develop standards where there is a need identified by regulators, academics, industry, or voiced by the concerned public. Some of the most relevant SDOs to this article include the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), both operating at the international level. There are also a range of national-based SDOs focused on developing relevant standards and ensuring compatibility with international standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer (IEEE) and Underwriters Laboratories (UL) (both based in the United States), the Standardization Administration of the People’s Republic of China (China), Japanese Standardization Association (Japan), the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (Europe), Standards Australia Institute (Australia) or Canadian Standards Association (Canada). There are also the SDOs working in more specialized contexts, of which perhaps the most relevant is SAE International (Society of Automotive Engineers), an organization primarily focused on standards related to the automotive industry.

Standards were historically focused on contributing to health and safety in terms of product use and infrastructure design, engineering, and construction. With time they evolved to become broader in scope to include applications ranging from guidance on good management practice in business, adoption of energy efficiency practices, to the measurement of business performance or the measurement of environmental health. Now, the increasing complexities of both technology and societal challenges mean that standardization again has to move into new directions and areas. Specifically, with these changes there is the need to have standardization that focuses on systems and the components that contribute to the functioning of the system, as well as the consideration of social, cultural, environmental, and economic dimensions and interactions.

The importance for adequate and consistent standardization in supporting the broad-based uptake of the EV can be illustrated by considering technologies where standardization processes played a role in their respective uptake. One example in this regards is the uptake of the VHS relative to the uptake of Betamax technology. Cottwell (1992) argued, for example, that more producers took up the VHS standard with this in turn resulting in consumers moved more readily to that product since there would be alternative sources of it. Thus, it was argued, standardization helped support the uptake of this technology. Another relevant illustration is that of Renault-Nissan Fluence coming out with a quick-change battery replacement feature that is compatible with the Better Place approach to battery switching (Better Place, 2009). Such compatibility and standardization across EV-related technologies and infrastructure will be a crucial enabling force that will drive the uptake of the EV into the future.

It is in this context that the need for standardization is relevant not only for the transportation sector, but also in terms of how electricity is sourced, stored, and the interactions with the electricity grid through vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technologies. New performance standards and regulations for systems, designs, infrastructure, and education will have to play a key role in this technological change by establishing consistent and compatible design and performance for technologies and infrastructure. These standards will have to be international in scope, going beyond national boundaries to ensure the market is not inhibited by incompatible options. This will be important not only in terms of the EV itself but also in terms of the infrastructure and the skills of those who charge and potentially service these vehicles.

A range of international standards as well as country-specific standards have existed for many years as related to the EV. There are also efforts to prioritize standardization efforts and needs in regards to ongoing developments with the EV and related infrastructure.

Some of the most prominent EV-related standards that are already in place have been developed by international standards setting bodies, namely ISO and IEC. These international standards include the newly revised ISO 6469, a two-part standard intended to help manufacturers design fail-safe electrically propelled vehicles, and 9 different standards documents have already been published under IEC TC69—Electric Road Vehicles and Electric Industrial Trucks.

Part 1 of the revised ISO 6469 specifies safety requirements for the on-board rechargeable energy storage systems (RESS) of electrically propelled road vehicles, including battery-electric vehicles (BEVs), fuel-cell vehicles (FCVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). Part 2 specifies requirements for operational safety means and protection against failures related to hazards specific to electrically propelled road vehicles.

The scope of the IEC Technical Committee, meanwhile, is to prepare international standards for road vehicles (totally or partly electrically propelled from self-contained power sources), and for electric industrial trucks. The 9 publications produced thus far have been specific to such EV components as wiring and connectors, controllers, and charging stations. 32 different countries are members of this standardization committee, including the most prominent vehicle producers, the US, Japan, and Germany, as well as emerging producers such as India and China.

Many countries also have a suite of their own EV-related standards, many relying or consistent with international standards. Japan, being the world’s predominant producer of hybrids and many battery technologies, has established the Japanese Electric Vehicle Association which in turn publishes a series of standards specific to the EV. Europe has also developed a range of EV-related standards, as published by the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization. In the US, EV-related standards have been developed by UL since 1998 and are now undergoing updates, while China appears to largely rely on adaptations of SAE standards for the EV.

As suggested, in an attempt to stimulate economic growth along with governments striving to meet both climate and energy policy objectives, numerous governments are now placing great emphasis on advancing the development of the EV. Along with these efforts has come an increasing recognition of the role and importance of ensuring that standardization keeps up with these technological changes and that there is consistency across countries. The US and China for example have launched a joint US–China Electric Vehicles Initiative where joint standards development for EV products and testing was identified as key to facilitating rapid deployment of EVs in both countries (Anon, 2009a, Anon, 2009b, Anon, 2009c). The need to have co-ordination in the development of protocols and standards for the EV and EV-related infrastructure has likewise been emphasized in other major government-led studies concerned with the emerging need for standardization (Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation, 2009; Office of the National Coordinator for Smart Grid Interoperability, 2009).

Such findings support our efforts to identify and publicize where standards may be required for the adoption of the EV and also protecting public safety and the environment. They also help emphasize that in order for there to be harmony across jurisdictions, a needed requirement to support trade and the compatibility of vehicle operation, such efforts in one country or region will have to become international in scope, adopted and shared between jurisdictions and trading partners.

The purpose of this article is to review and assess the need for standards and related personnel training and certification in terms of the broad-based emergence of the EV in society and our economy. We focus attention on three major areas:

  • electrical systems and vehicle-to-grid technology,

  • batteries and EV recharge infrastructure,

  • consumer and vocational environments.

The remainder of this article is organized as follows. In the next section we first overview the system-scale impacts of the increasing penetration of the EV into the vehicle market, with specific consideration of the electricity system and the emergence of V2G technologies, the requirements for energy storage and use of batteries, and the need for consumer safety. Section 3 then overviews what and how standards are needed to facilitate an economically efficient, environmentally sustainable, and safe transition to this new technology. Section 4 concludes with a number of recommended actions.

Section snippets

Moving towards an EV future: system-scale impacts and interactions

An increasing penetration of the EV into the vehicle sector will have system-scale impacts and interactions in terms of the electricity generation, transmission, distribution and demand-side management sectors, the resources, technologies and wastes associated with energy storage and batteries, and also in terms of the interactions with the consumer and end-user. In addition, there are a number of other challenges and potential technical barriers which will also have to be overcome in order to

Standards for fostering the EV, public safety, and environmental protection

The standardization required to help support the uptake of the EV alongside ensuring both public safety and environmental protection is discussed in terms of the electricity sector and system, battery charging systems, batteries, and the V2G technologies linking the consumer, the EV, and the electricity grid. There are some areas where standardization is already in place, or alternatively, where existing standards could be adapted in order to account for the unique circumstances of the EV.

Conclusions

The base standards and regulation frameworks exist to ensure the transition to a market including plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and battery electric vehicles. However, if the market is to expand to include a significant share of EVs, standards and regulation will need to be expanded in order to incorporate the entirety of the system impacts of the EV, from generation impacts, to the vehicle-to-grid “smart grid”, to the end-user. This will require adequate training of professionals and

References (39)

  • P.A. Steenhof et al.

    A comparison of alternative technologies to de-carbonize Canada's passenger transportation sector

    Technological Forecasting and Social Change

    (2008)
  • J. Tomic et al.

    Using fleets of electric-drive vehicles for grid support

    Journal of Power Sources

    (2007)
  • P. Van den Bossche et al.

    SUBAT: an assessment of sustainable battery technology

    Journal of Power Sources

    (2006)
  • R. Webster

    Can the electricity distribution network cope with an influx of electric vehicles?

    Journal of Power Sources

    (1999)
  • S. Yoda et al.

    The advent of battery-based societies and the global environment in the 21st century

    Journal of Power Sources

    (1999)
  • Anon

    Batteries feel the benefit of green car money

    Nature

    (2009)
  • Anon

    Fact Sheet: US–China Electric Vehicles Initiative

    (2009)
  • Anon, 2009c. International Standards and Testing Applicable to Batteries Retrieved September 18, 2009, from...
  • Automotive News, 2009. JP Morgan...
  • Cited by (0)

    View full text