Barriers to the wide adoption of electric vehicles: A literature review based discussion

As a promising alternative toward green transportation, the electric vehicle (EV) technology is regaining attention from the public. A technology emerged more than a century ago, EV failed in its several encounters with the gas powered cars and the efforts to penetrate the market. Though much progress has been made in the past decade, the wide adoption of EVs is still in question. Through a review of EV's history, an extensive summary of factors reported in literature, and our own discussion of EV as a disruptive innovation, we explore the barriers of EVs' wide adoption from multiple perspectives in hope to shed lights on the successful diffusion of EVs in the near future.