Research into government policy in support of electric vehicles will quickly lead the researcher into the much broader areas of climate control, reducing energy costs, reducing dependence on fossil fuels, and increasing the security of existing electric infrastructure. While all these areas deserve extensive research, this article will focus on government policy supporting electrification of the auto fleet. Electrification is defined as ‘promoting policies and actions that will facilitate the deployment of electric vehicles on a mass scale in order to combat the economic, environmental, and national security vulnerabilities caused by dependence on petroleum'. (http://www.just-auto.com/, 17 November 2009)
Electricity grids are used to transmit and distribute power from production source to end user when the two may be hundreds of kilometres apart. These grids are key to both producers and consumers of electric vehicles and are supported within government energy policy. Power generation sources include electrical generation plants such as a nuclear reactor or a coal burning power plant. A combination of sub-stations, transformers, towers, cables, and piping are used in power transmission to ensure a constant flow of electricity. Electric vehicles will require changes to the distribution systems to provide convenient charging stations for consumers. Smart Grid technology is a worldwide recurring theme to address the upgrade of the electrical infrastructure in support of electric vehicles, and to allow consumers and energy producers better management of the resources.
In addition to the upgrade of the grid systems, other issues are prominent:
New technology in support of battery production.
New technology in support of electric vehicle production.
Consumer habits and preferences regarding electric vehicles.
Government policy can impact each of these issues and fall into four major categories: tax incentives; grants; public investment; and research and development projects. It is possible to narrow the search to a specific type of government policy, such as grants. A review of representative countries in each of the major regions will find some countries with well-defined and co-ordinated policies containing clear goals with financial support, and other countries with only general statements of intent. Industrialised, and politically stable, countries tend to have plausible plans while developing countries have more general statements of intent without the goals or financial support to implement them.
Research approach
Research into government policies in this area should begin at the large international organisations that follow policies related to climate control, or global warming, as electric vehicles are a large part of the solution. It is possible to filter the resources somewhat to the issues such as battery and vehicle production as well as consumer incentives to purchase low carbon vehicles. With this starting point, further research can be continued at national, regional, or local government sites as well as news and journal sources. This is an exciting area of research that needs constant monitoring as policies are continually modified and added. News and journal articles are good information sources to follow policies under consideration and recently enacted. Periodic checking of the international organisations is another strategy to monitor the major changes and get an overview of new initiatives.
It is necessary to understand the scope of the issues and focus on the specific search terms required. Countries generally refer to legislation that impacts the production, transmission, and distribution of electrical energy as ‘national energy policy', ‘energy policy', or ‘climate control policy'. Some of these policies include tax incentives and grants for battery and electric vehicle production, public investment to upgrade the electric infrastructure, and various incentives to promote and implement alternate fuel production. Resources: International Agencies
A place to begin this search is with the international agencies that track climate change legislation.
International Energy Agency (IEA), part of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), has shared goals among its 28 member countries (see http://digbig.com/5bbnkm).
Particularly noteworthy is the Climate Change database maintained by the IEA. This monitors government policies from the member countries as well as China and Russia, is updated semi-annually and was last updated in December 2009. It is free and searchable, with filtering options available. Search the IEA site for ‘climate database' or access directly at http://digbig.com/5bbnkk.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The background to this organisation can be found at http://digbig.com/5bbnkn.
On its website (http://unfccc.int/2860.php), the UNFCCC tracks current news and policy of the 30 member nations and an RSS feed is available. As a monitoring method, each member country is required to complete an in-depth review. These reviews are made available in full text and contain government policies in support of the UNFCCC.
European Commission, Energy infrastructure Research shows that Europe leads the way in energy infrastructure policy. ‘The European Union finances electricity and gas transmission infrastructure projects of European interest', and this site (http://digbig.com/5bbnkp) links to policy detail, current legislation, current news, and multiple publications that go beyond government policies but are very useful to understand how all the interrelated topics come together within the legislation.
Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APP). The purpose of the APP can be found at http://digbig.com/5bbnkq (accessed 23 January 2010)
The APP site (http://digbig.com/5bbnkr) provides information on alternative strategies, including best practices, for the seven member countries. Initiatives are organised by ‘project', but each country presents their progress in an annual report. Review of these reports will provide additional detail for individual country policies.
Joint Implementation and Clean Development Mechanism The JI/CDM site (http://digbig.com/5bbnks) provides information on countries not covered in the previous sections but who participate, or have a working agreement with, the JI/CDM. Most information is reported on a project basis, but some includes the government policy in support of the project. South American, African, and Asian countries are included. Follow the Host Country Information link on the left of the page.
News, Government, and Journal Sources
Some small and less developed countries are not included in the international sources previously discussed. Also, more specific or updated information may be needed on certain policies obtained by one of the previous sources. The subscription data aggregators such as Dialog or LexisNexis are very effective for searching major news sources using the search terms ‘national energy policy', ‘energy policy', ‘electric grid' or ‘energy infrastructure' and the country of interest, for example ‘Brazil'. Outside the scope of ‘electric vehicles', the added term of ‘alternate energy' (or the specific type of energy such as ‘solar') can be included. This method can provide updates to current legislation or progress on proposed legislation. Although some energy issues arose in the 1973 oil crisis, most legislation originated, or was revised, within the past ten years, allowing a time limit to search results.
Individual government agency websites may provide additional information, similar to the news sites, of progress and success of legislation and proposed legislation. The United States Department of Energy is an example at http://www.energy.gov/. Links are provided to Energy Sources, Energy Efficiencies, and research areas including one on Transportation: Vehicles Technology Programs. A search for ‘electrification' on the United Kingdom's Department of Energy and Climate Change at http://www.decc.gov.uk/ returns over 160 results, many referring to the electric grid and network. While some government sites are more difficult to navigate than others, a representative government site in each major geographical region should provide information and further search terms for smaller countries.
Journal Sources are varied on the subject of electrification with a tie to government policy. A previous article in FUMSI thoroughly covered the automotive research journals, but the general automotive publications provide some coverage that includes government policy. They include ‘Ward's Auto World', ‘Just-Auto.com', and ‘Automotive News'. ‘Transmission & Distribution World' (http://tdworld.com/) is a trade journal covering this topic and ‘Hybrid & Electric Auto World' (http://www.hybrid-ev.com/) covers the electric vehicle market and at times includes policy issues.
Susan Connelly Murphy is owner and principal of Connelly Information LLC. Susan's expertise combines three decades of automotive, information technology, and academic experience with library science research skills. She uses this expertise to provide business intelligence for international automotive and railroad industries, global energy and transportation infrastructure initiatives, and the growing alternative energy industry.
Susan holds an MBA from Northwestern University and an MLIS from Wayne State University. She is an active member of the Association of Independent Information Professionals (AIIP) and the Special Libraries Association (SLA), and can be reached via her website at www.connellyinfo.com.
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Research into government policy in support of electric vehicles will quickly lead the researcher into the much broader areas of climate control, reducing energy costs, reducing dependence on fossil fuels, and increasing the security of existing electric infrastructure. While all these areas deserve extensive research, this article will focus on government policy supporting electrification of the auto fleet. Electrification is defined as ‘promoting policies and actions that will facilitate the deployment of electric vehicles on a mass scale in order to combat the economic, environmental, and national security vulnerabilities caused by dependence on petroleum'. (
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