There are two main types of electric vehicles (EV): battery electric vehicles (BEV) that use only batteries for energy storage and must be plugged in to be recharged, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) that have both batteries and liquid-fuel storage and refueling systems.  The global stock of electric vehicles (EVs) reached 1 million during 2015 and passed the 2 million mark in 2016. This rapid rise has been led by China, the US, Japan, and several European countries.  The uptake of EVs is the result of several factors, including strong technological progress, cost reductions (especially batteries), and policy support, including purchase incentives, driving and parking access advantages, and increased public charging infrastructure availability.

Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) dominated sales over plug-in hybrid electric vehicles in most countries until 2014, but plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) sales have grown rapidly in the past two years and as of early 2016 were nearly equal to BEV sales worldwide. PHEVs have a considerable range advantage but sacrifice all-electric driving to achieve this.

Electric vehicles create a paradigm shift for both the transport and power sectors and could support variable renewable power growth through different charging schemes such as time-variable “smart charging” and vehicle to grid (V2G) electricity supply.