It’s not the first time we’ve had studies predicting a massive growth in electric vehicle demand, and so far all of them have seemed to be unattainably optimistic in their outlook, especially since consumers are still not buying enough all-electrics to justify visions of such a prolific future – they are gaining ground, but not nearly as rapidly as older studies predicted they would have until the present day.
Therefore, when we tell you that UK-based market surveying firm ABI Research says EV sales (not hybrids, plug-ins or range-extenders) will be consistently going up at a rate of 48 percent per year until 2020, be sure to add a pinch of salt yourself, and not necessarily take the numbers presented as facts.
Their report states that the number of such vehicles “shipping yearly will increase from 150,000 in 2013 to 2.36 million in 2020,” with heavy reliance on growing Asian markets that are seen to have the most potential in embracing the trend.
They do note that “true mass market uptake,” will only really begin to become visible after the turn of the decade, as governments and the public increase their support for these alternative technologies, while their actual benefits will shine through.
However, for us to get to that point, the technology needs to get better, costs need to go down and charging stations need to become far more frequent than they are now, because let’s face it, aside from the a few EV-centric regions (like California, the Netherlands, the northern European states, Japan und Germany), progress has been slow.
If you’ve never been in an electric car before, the POV video we have posted below is as close as you’re ever going to get, without actually doing it.
By Andrei Nedelea
VIDEO