From Point A to Point EV: Electrifying How We Get Around
Whereas gas-powered vehicles rely solely on fossil fuels, vehicle electrification spans a spectrum of solutions, from fully electric to hybrid systems. All-electric EVs are powered by the grid and need clean electricity to eliminate all emissions. Plug-in hybrids and hybrid EVs pair batteries with gasoline engines to extend range and improve efficiency.
Electric vehicles are quickly becoming mainstream, but we've still got a long way to go. To decarbonize transportation, the world needs to adopt passenger electric vehicles at an even greater scale. Then we need to think bigger — and farther. The next frontiers of electrification will be the vehicles that move the world's goods and people across oceans and continents. Long-haul trucks, ships, and planes require enormous amounts of energy, delivered over sustained periods, which has long kept heavy transport locked into fossil fuels. But breakthroughs in batteries, charging, and vehicle design could help open the door to zero-emissions transport. If we get it right, electrification won’t just clean up our daily commutes — it will slash gigatons of CO₂, displace millions of barrels of oil a day, and redefine how the world moves across land, sea, and sky.
Using IPCC and GCAM data, Energy Innovation projected future “greenhouse gas emissions at stake” in 2050, assuming current policies remain in place. The resulting estimates overlap because different technologies may reduce the same emissions pool.
The Path We’re On
Vehicle electrification is happening — but it needs to go faster.
For more than a century, the world’s cars, trucks, ships, and planes have relied on fossil fuels to get us from Point A to Point B. The result is staggering: in 2025, global transportation accounted for roughly 14% of total global greenhouse gas emissions. By 2050, emissions are projected to amount to 9.4 gigatons.
Decarbonizing transportation isn’t just about swapping engines or substituting fuels — it’s about rethinking how, when, and how far we move. The most efficient vehicle is the one we don’t have to drive at all, and investments in dense cities, digital connectivity, and smarter logistics can reduce demand for travel outright. Where movement is necessary, shifting trips to lower-emissions modes like rail and public transit can dramatically cut energy use. But even in a world with fewer trips and better mode choices, vehicles will remain essential to modern life. That’s where electrification comes in: as the cleanest, most efficient way to power the cars, trucks, and buses we still rely on — and a critical pillar of a broader, system-wide transition to low-carbon transport.
The good news: the journey to electrified transport is well underway. However, the maturity of electrification differs sharply across vehicle classes. Adoption of passenger cars is miles ahead, followed by light trucks. Heavy-duty trucks are next in line; despite lingering challenges related to charging infrastructure, there are hundreds of models now on the market.
Meanwhile, electrification of aviation and maritime shipping lags behind. For intercontinental flights or ocean crossings, aircraft and ships would need batteries with enormous energy density — far higher than what’s physically possible today. One of the big challenges is weight. Batteries are heavy. They need to be carried from origin to destination, and their weight doesn’t drop as they’re depleted, unlike fuels. Even with significant improvements to batteries, these challenges make electrification particularly difficult — and make sustainable aviation fuels an attractive alternative.
The challenge now is extending electrification beyond its current strongholds — scaling what works today, and innovating where today’s technologies still fall short.
A New Way Forward
The Road Ahead: Electrifying Opportunity
Unlocking full-scale electrified transport across all vehicle classes will depend on advances in batteries, charging, and vehicle design. The following imperatives and moonshots represent, we think, the highest-impact opportunities to drive that shift.
Innovation Imperatives
Develop solutions that enable faster charging and unlock accelerated grid integration
The constraint isn’t that fast charging technology isn’t available. It already exists at high power throughput today, but additional innovation is required to improve, expedite and expand what exists without overtaxing the grid. This includes ultra-fast charging sites (megawatt-class for heavy trucks), managed/flexible load, and bidirectional integration — all at high levels of reliability. These advanced charging solutions will cut dwell times, keep costs in check (by shaving demand charges and avoiding peak windows), and turn vehicle batteries into flexible assets that support the grid rather than stress it.
Improve energy density, safety, cost, and charging speed while more efficiently using critical materials
Batteries are the backbone of vehicle electrification, but current technologies face trade-offs in cost, performance, and material intensity. Innovations that increase energy density, extend lifespan, and allow faster, safer charging — while reducing dependence on harder to source critical minerals like cobalt and nickel — are essential to scaling EVs affordably and sustainably. Breakthroughs in next-generation chemistries, solid-state designs, and recycling could make EV batteries cheaper, cleaner, and more reliable.
Moonshots
Develop compact, high-density power sources (e.g., nuclear shipping, high-efficiency solar vehicle integration)
A transformative alternative to today’s storage-heavy systems is to generate clean power onboard. Concepts range from small modular nuclear reactors for container ships to advanced solar integration for trucks, enabling near-limitless operation without reliance on external refueling. Though there are technical, safety, and regulatory hurdles, compact onboard generation could revolutionize heavy transport by delivering vast amounts of energy with zero emissions.
Develop microwave or laser power transmission for aircraft, heavy road vehicles, and shipping propulsion
Instead of carrying all their energy onboard, vehicles could one day be powered remotely. Remote power concepts — such as wireless microwave or laser transmission — would beam clean energy directly to aircraft or ships in motion. Still highly experimental, this approach could eliminate the weight and size constraints of batteries, unlocking continuous, long-range electric transport with minimal onboard storage.
Achieve 1,000+ Wh/kg batteries or fuel cells for shipping and aviation
While short-distance electric aviation is on the horizon, energy storage remains a major bottleneck for electrifying long-haul aviation and shipping. A moonshot target of 1,000+ Wh/kg — several times higher than today’s best commercial batteries — reflects the extreme demands of these applications. At intercontinental scales, energy density matters not only because vehicles require enormous amounts of power, but because that energy must be carried for the entire journey, imposing a persistent weight penalty that limits range and payload. Achieving ultra-high-density storage — whether through breakthrough batteries or fuel cells — could help overcome this constraint, making fully electric long-distance flight and ocean shipping technically viable and unlocking a step-change toward zero-carbon global transport.
The most viable solutions will:
Make electric vehicles cheaper to own and operate: Upfront prices need to fall through continued battery cost declines, cheaper chemistries, right-sizing batteries for each vehicle class, and economies of scale. Total cost of ownership for EVs must consistently beat combustion: lower energy costs, reduced maintenance, and new value streams (like depot charging efficiencies or backup power). Though many consumers finance their cars, upfront costs for EVs remain 20–30% higher than combustion vehicles in Europe and the U.S. (versus near parity in China).
Empower reliable, abundant charging where people and fleets actually need it: Public fast charging must expand dramatically, with heavy-duty corridors built out and made predictable. The technology exists; the bottlenecks are permitting, interconnection, local codes, zoning, and financing. Adoption will only scale if charging becomes as reliable, convenient — and as confidently available — as filling up a tank.
Ensure EVs integrate smoothly with the grid, not strain it: Managed (smart) charging must become the norm, shifting load away from peak hours and reducing the need for expensive new infrastructure. Over time, as standards mature, vehicle-to-grid and vehicle-to-home will unlock even more flexibility. For grid operators, EVs must become flexible, schedulable assets — not unpredictable spikes in demand.
Work within a secure, diversified, and sustainable supply chain: Scaling EV adoption requires reliable access to battery materials, but also innovations that reduce reliance on scarce minerals — through new chemistries, recyclability, and better materials efficiency. Manufacturing capacity must grow in all major markets, and recycling must become a major source of supply. Fleets and automakers won’t commit at scale if battery supply remains fragile or volatile.
