Courtesy of The Guardian:
All new cars sold in Europe will be electric within less than two decades, driven by government support, falling battery costs and economies of scale, a Dutch bank has predicted.
However, ING warned that with battery-powered vehicles accounting for 100% of registrations in 2035 across the continent, European carmakers would lose out to their rivals in the US and Asia who already lead on battery production.
The forecast is much more aggressive than most other projections, such as the UK’s National Grid which on Thursday said it expects 90% of new cars in Britain to be electric by 2050.
France’s commitment last week to banning new petrol and diesel car sales by 2040 suggests it also thinks the roll-out of electric vehicles will be slower than ING’s report expects.
However, the bank said that it believed pure electric cars would “become the rational choice for motorists in Europe” sometime between 2017 and 2024.
Well whichever of these is the most accurate they all seem to agree that gasoline powered vehicles are about to go extinct, and that electric cars are the wave of the future.
Now if only America can emerge from under the influence of big oil and start working toward a similarly progressive policy.
YEA!!! More gas for the U.S.
ReplyDeleteEarlier this week -- or was it late last week? -- I read a news item that Volvo will no longer make cars powered by internal combustion engines beginning in 2020.
ReplyDeleteNever happen in our lifetime. I don't know about Alaska, but in the lower 48, there are car shows all OVER the place. Hell, I'm watching one right now on Velocity with a 1952 rebuilt hot rod. As long as there's a hard on for that, gasoline and race fuel will be the norm. You can't blame them.
ReplyDeleteMy Prius turns 10 this December.
ReplyDeleteIt was to be my last gas powered car.
I was anticipating a more aggressive switch to EV but that hasn't quite happened.
So I'll either keep this car a little longer, or I have to decide whether to switch to EV early or go one last round with a hybrid. There is now a plug in Prius but not sure I want to go that route.
I've only got 65,000 miles on the car so I still have some time to decide. Probably 2-3 years before the battery pack dies.