A Review of the Integrated Renewable Energy Systems for Sustainable Urban Mobility

Several challenges have emerged due to the increasing deterioration of urban mobility and its severe impacts on the environment and human health. Primary dependence on internal combustion engines that use petrol or diesel has led to poor air quality, time losses, noise, traffic jams, and further environmental pollution. Hence, the transitions to using rail and or seaway-based public transportation, cleaner fuels, and electric vehicles are some of the ultimate goals of urban and national decision-makers. However, battery, natural gas, hybrid, and fuel cell vehicles require charging stations to be readily available with a sustainable energy supply within urban regions in different residential and business neighborhoods. This study aims to provide an updated and critical review of the concept and recent examples of urban mobility and transportation modes. It also highlights the adverse impacts of several air pollutants emitted from internal combustion engine vehicles. It also aims to shed light on several possible systems that integrate the electric vehicle stations with renewable energy sources. It was found that using certain components within the integrated system and connecting the charging stations with a grid can possibly provide an uninterrupted power supply to electric vehicles, leading to less pollution, which would encourage users to use more clean vehicles. In addition, the environmental impact assessments, as well as several implementation challenges, are discussed. To this end, the main implementation issues related to consumer incentives, infrastructure, and recommendations are also reported.

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Published in: Sustainability
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
See article on publisher's website: https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su141710517