Assessing the Economic and Operational Value of Fleets of Electric Vehicles (EVs) Compared to Conventional Fossil Fueled Vehicles (ICEs)

Internal Combustion Engines (ICEs) are the last major consumers of petroleum in the United States. SunEdison, one of the world’s largest renewable energy developers, was interested in supporting electric vehicles (EVs) as the next step in converting the transportation sector to cleaner alternatives. For this project, the Capstone team identified vehicles that will have a high economic value if they were replaced by EVs, recommended market entry opportunities for capitalization, and addressed how the complex financial, political, and technological dimensions of the EV market can be simplified for comparison across markets.

The Capstone team first used gating and scoring rubric to identity ten states to analyze. Then they identified four high opportunity markets that can be targeted for future large scale electric vehicle deployment. The states that were selected were based on local policy initiatives, fuel spreads, and fleet specifics.

The Capstone team developed a fully functional and dynamic model to translate complex inputs into easily usable financial metrics and visualizations of comparable vehicle economics. Inputs that were included but was not limited to: electricity tariffs, electric and diesel vehicle pricing, driving patterns, and incentives. The final model has the duel function of comparing vehicles one-to-one, as well as, a vehicle to an entire fleet.  The model developed by the team confirmed the importance of incentives and cost reductions before EVs can become economically viable nationwide.