Storage technologies for electric vehicles

This review article describes the basic concepts of electric vehicles (EVs) and explains the developments made from ancient times to till date leading to performance improvement of the electric vehicles. It also presents the thorough review of various components and energy storage system (ESS) used in electric vehicles. The main focus of the paper is on batteries as it is the key component in making electric vehicles more environment-friendly, cost-effective and drives the EVs into use in day to day life. Various ESS topologies including hybrid combination technologies such as hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), plug-in HEV (PHEV) and many more have been discussed. These technologies are based on different combinations of energy storage systems such as batteries, ultracapacitors and fuel cells. The hybrid combination may be the perspective technologies to support the growth of EVs in modern transportation. The advanced charging systems may also play a major role in the roll-out of electric vehicles in the future. The general strategies of advanced charging systems are explained to highlight the importance of fast charging time with high amount of power and its cost-effectiveness for electric vehicles. Furthermore, the battery pack designing calculation is briefly explained along with all mechanical, electrical and environmental battery tests, which helps in the evaluation of batteries. Moreover, this paper also has a brief summarizing with the help of a flow chart, which clearly demonstrates all the parts of electric vehicles in a much simpler way.