China, Europe Drive Shift to Electric Cars as U.S. Lags From the article: Electric cars will pick up critical momentum in 2017, many in the auto industry believe—just not in North America. Tighter emissions rules in China and Europe leave global carmakers and some consumers with little choice but to embrace plug-in vehicles, fueling an investment surge, said industry executives gathered in Detroit this past week for the city's annual auto show. "Car electrification is an irreversible trend," said Jacques Aschenbroich, chief executive of auto supplier Valeo, which has expanded sales by 50% in five years with a focus on electric, hybrid, connected and self-driving cars. In Europe, green cars benefit increasingly from subsidies, tax breaks and other perks, while combustion engines face mounting penalties including driving and parking restrictions. "Look to China rather than the U.S. for the future of electric cars," Gerard Detourbet, a Renault-Nissan executive leading low-cost plug-in development, said recently. "China is compelled to act - that's the main difference." As I've mentioned before I also see the tipping point coming from China which will be focussed on affordable electric cars. Renault from Europe is even selling to China. The China spec EV's won't be readily usable outside China, but their economies of scale will bring down overall costs, and show innovative ways of doing EV's cheaper. Europe, with its demand for EV's as well as smaller compact cars, would be perfect for China to export to, if they can pass quality controls. And us in Africa where very little has happened with EVs? Well current EVs are just to expensive to import into Africa, and the most recent startup in South Africa has gone completely quiet. So we'll probably catch the wave after the tipping point breaks, when costs of EVs have fallen and smaller cheaper ones are readily available. See http://ift.tt/2jSXXjB
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