Electric vehicle market: the expected take-off?

What if 2017 was finally the year of the Electric Vehicle’s take-off? More than a century after its illustrious elder – “Jamais Contente”- the Electric Vehicle seems finally ready to take up again its glorious past.

Although considered as too expensive, not much efficient and aesthetic for a long time, the Electric Vehicles is nowadays seen by the OEMs as a major axis of development for the future of Automotive. Indeed OEMs have unanimously decided to develop and extend their electric ranges. This decision is the results of the steadily improvement of the electric vehicles sales volumes over the past three years (+42% in 2016 vs 2015) and environmental standards stricter regarding Greenhouse gas emissions. The Volkswagen group already announced the launch of 25 new electric vehicles by 2025 and is aiming to sell 25% of 100% electric vehicles worldwide by this date. Many more the Volkswagen group objectify to make its future 100% electric compact – ID CONCEPT- the third part of its saga, after the Beatle and the Golf. The next 10 years seem to be crucial. Indeed while some electric vehicles are already considered as major commercial successes –Leaf, Prius, Tesla Model S…- many technological barriers still remain and slow down the development of this market. We can assume that the battery life and the chargers infrastructures are way more efficient than few years ago but they are still too limited to convince a wider audience. Moreover even if the conception of electric vehicles is less complex than the conception of ICE vehicles, it requires more rare earths (around 1 kg). This is a concerning situation because it could engender geopolitical tensions, according to Me Louis David, PSA materials expert master.  Thus although many points have to be improved, the OEMs have a solid basis to ensure the take-off of the EV market. This trend has been also confirmed by the big statistical experts of the automotive market. They assume that the global electric vehicles sales will represents 20% of the global automotive sales in 2020.

With the automotive industry entering a period of change, SNECI brings its expertise and know-how to the automotive players to succeed in this challenge, as shown by the SNECI nomination on task force mission to secure the launch of a new electric vehicle.