Electric vehicles are expected to contribute to a better environment and lower dependence on oil and this new boom has already begun. In this paper, the real possibility of electric vehicles and the impact on the Japanese and American automobile industries due to EV development in the future are described. The long history of electric vehicles as future mobility has been paid attention for more than 100 years. The performance of the battery has been the key issue to EV development. As discussed later, however, current battery performance is still completely insufficient compared to the performance of gasoline. So, it is important to clarify what electric vehicles can do and also to know what is impossible to contribute to solve the issues. In a publication by Minami and Chan [2009], titled "Current status and future of electric vehicles", 50 % is used to describe the current technologies of EV and another 50 % is used to write what EV could do. In recent international conferences on electric vehicles, the main theme seems to have shifted from the technological aspects to the ability of EV contribution to the future mobility. Amid concern over the depletion of oil resources, the development of electric vehicles as an important means of transport will support the future of civilization. It is pointed out here that electrification of passenger cars cannot contribute to solving environmental issues in advanced countries. To solve environmental issues of NOx and PM, which are the main issues of environment in advanced countries, it is essential to perform electrification of big trucks and buses, because these are emitted by such heavy duty vehicles. Due to the insufficient performance of batteries, it is difficult to develop electrification of such heavy duty vehicles. One fact is shown based on the data of Japanese and overseas markets of forklifts. It is concluded that the electrification of passenger cars does not contribute to environmental issues and little effort can be made to save the waste of fossil fuels. It is very important for governments and automobile industries to notice what they are expecting about electric vehicles. There have so far been no such political actions in Japan.
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