Electrics cars are on the rise!
The era of the electric car has arrived! The first commercial electric vehicle (EV) was sold in Belgium in 1890 and in 1900 EV’s made up 38% of all cars on U.S. roads. Then cheap oil drove EV’s out of the market until the late 1990’s when the Toyota Prius was marketed on a wide scale.
Here are some fun facts about the state of electric vehicles today:
While car sales decreased by 16% in 2020, the number of electric vehicles increased by 50%. There are now 370 models of vehicles that are available with electric power including Mini Coopers, Porsche’s and Harley Davidsons.
On November 2, Hertz announced that it is ordering 100,000 Tesla Model 3’s, giving it the largest EV rental fleet in North America and making EVs 20% of its rental fleet. New EV truck maker Rivian is building 100,000 electric delivery vehicles for Amazon.
Governments from California to China, Japan and the U.K. have announced plans to ban sales of new gas-only cards by 2035 or sooner. Ford says it will sell only EV’s in Europe within five years.
Today there are 12 million electric passenger vehicles and 1 million commercial vehicles on the road. Sales of passenger EV’s are expected to jump from 3.1 million in 2020 to 14 million by 2025. By 2040 EV sales will make up 74% of U.S. car sales and 70% of world car sales.
Battery technology is on a J-curve as well; since 2009 battery prices have fallen 89%. Meanwhile the mileage range of EV’s has continued to increase- the Tesla Model S Long Range Plus was the first EV to offer 400+ miles of range.
And look out sports cars- the Tesla Model S Plaid comes with 1,025 hp, a top speed of 200 mph and will go from zero to 60 in 1.9 seconds.
While many EV’s are priced in the luxury class, Nissan’s Leaf goes out the door for less than $25,000 after tax credits.
The transition from gas-powered vehicles, which produces 25% of global emissions, remains too slow in the fight against climate change but the momentum has swung and is picking up speed dramatically. Progress is being made but there are still 1.5 billion gas guzzlers on the road around the planet. Put in your order today!
