Earlier this year we looked at Norway's plan to phase out fossil fuelled cars by 2025 - as an EV leader nation, this move was bold but not overly shocking. When France & the UK made such announcements a few weeks ago, they came as a much more significant surprise.
In short, much of the western world is looking to phase out petrol and diesel cars over the next 20 years as part of a bid to tackle the public health issue of air pollution. A consequence of this policy shift is that Electric Vehicles will make up 34% of cars driven globally by 2040. EVs will make up 54% of new car sales as a number of key factors accelerate demand in this sector. Policy shift is one of five key drivers reported by Bloomberg New Energy Finance in their EV Outlook 2017 report.
As technology races and more providers enter the arena, lithium-ion battery prices have fallen rapidly, extending distance range and placing EV's on course to reach price parity with traditional petrol cars in about ten years time.
Price is a key economic driver however choice is essential to ensure market reach. Volvo recently announced that from 2019, they will only make electric and hybrid vehicles. Every major car manufacturer in the world has developed an EV range in the knowledge that the main market shift has begun and they cannot afford to be left behind. Such a levelling of the playing field will make for a certain and rapid change.
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