A comparison of technical and economic prospects of battery electric, hybrid and fuel cell vehicles

The core objective of this paper is to analyze the market prospects of battery electric, hybrid and fuel cell vehicles from a technical energetic and an economic point-of-view in a dynamic framework up to 2050 in comparison to conventional passenger cars. The major results and conclusions of this analysis are: From a technical point-of-view BEV and FCV are currently clearly preferable to conventional cars regarding ecological performance as well as energetic conversion efficiency. Yet, this applies only if the electricity respectively the hydrogen used in the cars is produced from RES. With respect to the economic competitiveness of alternative powertrains compared to conventional vehicles in the most favourable case BEV will enter the market by about 2025. FCV will become competitive even later, by about 2040. Keywordsbattery electric vehicles, fuel cell vehicles, technical performance, economics, technological learning