It is widely accepted that electrical vehicles (EVs) for goods and people have a crucial role to play in energy transition towards carbon neutrality. Despite significant progress in recent decades, challenges remain in charging times of EV batteries and range anxiety of drivers, compared with vehicles powered by liquid fuels which are several times more energy dense than Li-ion batteries. This perspective article examines two solutions that have the potentia. It is widely accepted that electrical vehicles (EVs) for goods and people have a crucial role to play in energy transition towards carbon neutrality. Despite significant progress in recent decades, challenges remain in charging times of EV batteries and range anxiety of drivers, compared with vehicles powered by liquid fuels which are several times more energy dense than Li-ion batteries. This perspective article examines two solutions that have the potential to address the challenges: the conversion of diverse forms of wasted energy into electricity (e.g. vibration) and the reduction of battery power for the provision of ancillary services (e.g. cabin thermal comfort).••Electrical vehiclesEnergy recoveryThermal energy storageMulti-vector refuelling stationsReplacing fossil fuel powered vehicles with electrical vehicles (EVs), enabling zero-emission transportation, has become one of most important pathways towards carbon neutrality. The driving power for EVs is supplied from an on-board energy reservoir, i.e. a lithium-ion battery pack. Charging woes and range anxiety due to limited battery capacity a. 2.1. Mature technologies: electromagnetic and photovoltaic effectsKinetic energy recovery systems (KERSs), also called regenerative braking, are able to recover part of kinetic energy dissipated during braking and store the recovered energy for use when needed. Commercially, a KERS contains two technological paths: mechanical KERS based on flywheels [3,4] and electrical KERS based on a motor generator [5,6]. Electrical KERSs are more suitable for EVs because their electrical motor and electrical generator share the same internal structures through an electromagnetic principle. The roles of the motor and generator can be interchangeable by determining if the required torque is positive or negative. When the torque serves to slow down the vehicle, the wheels are electrical generators, converting the kinetic energy of the vehicle to electricity and storing the energy in the battery pack. Tesla was the first to integrate this electrical KERS in their EV model in 2007. Literature reported that up to 50% of the total braking energy can be recovered by the electrical KERS system, thus increasing the travelling range by 8–25%. A main drawback limiting the use of electrical KERS in EVs is that continuous charging and discharging while driving may reduce the life span of batteries.Photovoltaic semiconductor materials can be integrated with EVs for harvesting and converting solar energy into electricity. Solar energy has the advantages of be. In EVs, there are multiple thermal management requirements for diverse purposes, including cabin thermal management (e.g. cabin heating and cooling for thermal comfort etc.), battery thermal management (BTM), and refrigeration in refrigerated trucks etc. Efficient and effective thermal management methods can play a key role in maintaining adequate travelling range, safeguarding components from deterioration, ensuring passenger comfort, and preventing food quality and medicine functionalities. In recent years, Thermal Energy Storage (TES) technology, as a passive thermal management solution, has attracted more and more attention for applications in EVs due to enhanced cycle life, high overall efficiency, simple control procedure, fast heating and cooling response time and low energy costs. For these applications, charging stations with hot and cold reservoirs are needed, integrated with existing charging station infrastructure to charge the battery and TES concurrently.TES can be based on one or more of the three forms: (a) sensible heat stored in a liquid or a solid medium, (b) thermochemical energy stored and released via a reversible chemical and/or physical process, and (c) heat of fusion (latent heat) through the use of Phase Change Materials (PCMs), as illustrated in Fig. 3 [56,57]. Sensible heat storage is the most commonly used TES technology [.
