Navigant Research

During the 2008-2010 recession, vehicle miles traveled in the United States fell for the first time in 3 decades.  At the same time, the number of vehicles on the roads appeared to plateau.  This raised the real possibility that car sales have peaked, and that the total number of privately owned vehicles will flatten and start to gradually decline.  Some countries in Western Europe are even more likely to see Peak Cars in the coming decade, as a result of demographic changes, traffic congestion, and increased transportation alternatives.  Peak cars will have broad implications on demand for public transportation…

Recent natural disasters, such as the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan and Superstorm Sandy in the United States, have highlighted the importance of resilience – the ability of critical infrastructure systems and services to keep running, or to recover quickly, when there is a sudden shock to the system – from natural disaster, extreme weather, terrorism, or other causes.  Power grid operators, end-use customers, and government officials are increasingly tasked with ensuring that the power stays on, that clean water is available, that mobile phone service continues, and that other critical infrastructure can function – no matter what. Featuring…

Ancillary services are the auxiliary services required to balance the grid in order to reliably maintain the electricity grid. Such applications include frequency regulation, voltage support, spinning reserve, electric supply reserve capacity, and load following.  Over the next 10 years the market for ancillary services, and the energy storage systems that enable them, will be driven by deregulation of electricity markets in high economic growth markets, such as Asia Pacific, and… Listen To Replay

The electric vehicle (EV) industry is gearing up for the growth of fast direct current (DC) charging technology.  Fast DC technology, which offers charging times of less than an hour, compared to 6 to 8 hours for conventional AC systems, promises to accelerate sales of battery electric vehicles, but the barriers to widespread adoption remain high.  Specific challenges include the high cost of equipment and the emerging struggle between the… Listen To Replay