Onboard energy harvesting in electric vehicles : insight and foresight

Abstract

Electric vehicles (EVs) have been identified to be the greenest form of road transportation today. While EVs have the advantage of energy diversification and higher energy efficiency over traditional internal combustion engine vehicles, they are challenged by a limited driving range and high initial cost due to limited energy storage in onboard EV batteries. Therefore, the concept of onboard renewable and reusable energy systems has become increasingly attractive for EVs, serving as a prospective solution to eliminate the woes that once mired the EVs of yesteryear. The purpose of this paper is to give an insight of the latest onboard energy harvesting systems in EVs, and a foresight of future onboard energy harvesting systems for EVs. These include potential benefits and drawbacks, their respective challenges and opportunities, and their prospective integration in future EVs.