Welcome to the World of Electric Vehicles: Land Sea Air

1.1. Why the fuss?
In ten years, electric vehicles EVs will be a business as big as today’s car industry. This is partly because only
half of the electric vehicle market value will lie in cars. Indeed, no more that 25% of cars produced in 2021
will be electric – possibly far less. Electric vehicles will help to save the planet and the automotive industry
and they will reduce local stress from noise, air, land and water pollution. Electric vehicles will reduce
dependency on expiring oil reserves controlled by unstable and unpredictable regimes. Many new
applications will be created. Aircraft will take off and land silently at night in residential districts.
Unmanned underwater vehicles will stay at sea for years without maintenance, monitoring oil rigs and fish,
prospecting for minerals, and executing military missions. There will be military hummingbirds, jellyfish,
unmanned airships and more carrying out surveillance. A cheap alternative to satellites will be upper
atmosphere unmanned aircraft cruising for years on sun power without maintenance. Tugboats will pull
harder and not pollute – new regulations encourage such reduction in pollution . The list goes on and on.
Come back Faraday. All is forgiven.

What is an electric vehicle?
There is no official definition of an electric vehicle but all agree that an electric vehicle uses an electric
motor to propel itself some or all of the time. In common parlance, the term electric vehicle is used more
narrowly. See the IDTechEx report, “Electric Vehicles 2011-2021” for the detail and the forecasts by sector.
The basics are given below, with the most popular basic components. The electric motor may be powered
without a battery and the vehicle can still be called an electric vehicle.

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