electric mobility (EM)

Electromobility, e-mobility, stands for the use of electrical energy in vehicles. This includes classic electric vehicles powered by electricity, such as streetcars, trolleybuses and trains, but above all electric vehicles and electric bicycles. In contrast to proven rail-based vehicles, where the electrical energy is tapped from a line while the vehicle is moving, electric cars carry the electrical energy in a battery or as hydrogen.

Concepts for electric vehicles

In electric vehicles(EVs), there are battery electric vehicles(BEVs) that store their energy in batteries, and fuel cell electric vehicles(FCEVs) that derive their energy from fuel cells. In the case of battery electric vehicles, the distance that can be covered depends on the energy consumption of the electric car and the storage capacity of the batteries. In addition to pure battery electric vehicles, there are also hybrid variants, the hybrid electric vehicles( HEV), in which the electric drive provides only part of the energy and the rest is provided by an internal combustion engine, for example when the battery is empty.

In the case of battery-powered electric vehicles, e-mobility depends on the nominal capacity of the batteries and the energy consumption of the vehicle, but also on the weight of the batteries, their charging time and, last but not least, the infrastructure ofcharging stations. With the amount of energy consumption, the weight of the batteries, the distance of the electric charging stations and the duration of the charging time, the mobility and the radius of use decrease. As for electric charging stations, this charging infrastructure is under construction, especially since the charging stations and their charging plugs are specified by relevant standards. In terms of charging time, it is currently assumed that batteries are charged during longer periods of standing at home and at work. In addition, there are DC-based fast charging systems for the CCS system with a DC charging power of 170 kW, later 350 kW, which can charge batteries to 80% of their storage capacity within a few minutes. This fast charging serves as a supplement to normal charging when batteries need to be recharged during the journey.

Conceptually, work is also underway on an inductive charging system that is embedded in the roadway and can be used to recharge the batteries while driving

Service systems for electric mobility

In addition to the various concepts for electric vehicles, there is a wide range of mobility services, Mobility-as-a-Service( MaaS), that can be used individually. Mobility-as-a-Service combines public and private transport means and services. The MaaS concept therefore offers a high degree of flexibility and is relatively inexpensive.

Other mobility services have developed in this context. For example, the sharing concept, which involves carpooling and allows many users to use an electric vehicle together and on demand, i.e., on-demand. This concept is called Shared Electric Mobility Service (SEMS).