energies Review On the Historical Development and Future Prospects of Various Types of Electric Mobility Amela Ajanovic 1,*, Reinhard Haas 1 and Manfred Schrödl 2 1 Energy Economics Group, Vienna University of Technology (TU WIEN), 1040 Vienna, Austria;
[email protected] 2 Institute of Energy Systems and Electrical Drives, Vienna University of Technology (TU WIEN), 1040 Vienna, Austria;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +43-1-58801-370364 Abstract: Environmental problems such as air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions are caused by almost all transport modes. A potential solution to these problems could be electric mobility. Currently, efforts to increase the use of various types of electric vehicles are under way virtually worldwide. While in recent years a major focus was put on the electrification of passenger cars, electricity has already, for more than hundred years, been successfully used in some public transport modes such as tramways and metros. The core objective of this paper is to analyze the historical developments and the prospects of electric mobility in different transport modes and their potential contribution to the solution of the current environmental problems. With respect to the latter, we analyze the effect of the electricity generation mix on the environmental performance of electric vehicles. In addition, we document major policies implemented to promote various types of e- mobility. Our major conclusions are: (i) The policies implemented will have a major impact on the future development of electric mobility; (ii) The environmental benignity of electric vehicles depends to a large extent on the electricity generation mix.