Say hello to Hakan Samuelsson, the chief executive of Volvo, which just announced that all new automobiles will be either plug-in or hybrid beginning in 2019.
“Our customers are asking more and more about electric cars,” Samuelsson says. Acknowledging that this bold strategy has risks, “a much bigger risk would be to stick with internal combustion engines.”
Wall Street and industry analysts agree.
Electric cars will outsell fossil-fuel powered vehicles within two decades, according to a new forecast by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
“This is economics, pure and simple economics,” BNEF’s Colin McKerracher said on Thursday. “Lithium-ion battery prices are going to come down sooner and faster than most other people expect.”
From Bloomberg’s Sustainable Finance:
“Electric cars will outsell fossil-fuel powered vehicles within two decades as battery prices plunge, turning the global auto industry upside down and signaling economic turmoil for oil-exporting countries. Adoption of emission-free vehicles will happen more quickly than previously estimated because the cost of building cars is falling so fast. The seismic shift will see cars with a plug account for a third of the global auto fleet by 2040 and displace about 8 million barrels a day of oil production — more than the 7 million barrels Saudi Arabia exports today.”
This is economics, pure and simple economics.... Electric cars will outsell fossil-fuel powered vehicles within two decades as battery prices plunge, turning the global auto industry upside down.
“Volvo’s move may be the latest sign that the era of the gas guzzler is slowly coming to an end,” according to the New York Times. “Tesla, which makes only limited numbers of electric cars, surpassed Ford and General Motors this year in terms of stock market value, despite making significantly fewer cars than those automotive giants — a clear indication of where investors think the industry is headed.”
Tesla’s $35,000 Model 3 began production this week, with the first deliveries due on July 28. CEO Elon Musk expects production of the mass-market vehicles to hit 20,000 a month starting in December.
Just in time for the holidays!
