In an open-access study published in the journal Sustainable Cities and Society , Francesco Orsi, of the Landscape Architecture and Spatial Planning Group, Wageningen University & Research, the Netherlands, suggests that widespread adoption of electric vehicles may have a negative impact on land use. Electric vehicles (EVs) are widely regarded as the key to finally making private mobility clean, yet virtually no research is being conducted on their potential contribution to the expansion of impervious surfaces. This study aims to start a discussion on the topic by exploring three relevant issues: the impact of EVs’ operating costs on urban size, the space requirements of charging facilities, the land demand of energy production through renewables. Orsi determined that given cheaper operating costs compared to conventional vehicles, EVs might lead a 100 km 2 European city to increase by about 0.2−1 km 2 (depending on adoption rate and the fuel price […]