|
|
Sign up for our newsletter to receive the latest news and information from publics.bg
News
World news
03.02.2011 11:11
© McKinsey
The conventional wisdom about the electric car market is that it won’t get moving without richer incentives and dense battery-charging networks. A report on a McKinsey’s Automotive & Assembly Practice research however shows that plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and battery-only electric vehicles could account for 16 percent of overall new-car sales in New York, 9 percent in Paris, and 5 percent in Shanghai by 2015. And that’s true even with today’s financial incentives and limited public charging facilities.
The report finds no surprise in the interest for electric cars in big cities where the need for cleaner air and reduced carbon dioxide emissions are more pressing, which leads to a bigger number of green-minded early adopters. The report states that 30 percent of all car buyers in Shanghai and 20 percent in New York would consider buying an electric car and a dense public charging infrastructure would only modestly increase their interest in buying such cars.
This attitude shows not such a big need for public investments in the start-up stage. However a broad plug-in infrastructure will no doubt be critical as electrified vehicles migrate to mass adoption. Electric car transportation in the big cities could also overcome another major obstacle – the battery limits, since the travel distances in a city are relatively short.
The report finds that nonfinancial incentives would be surprisingly effective and that raising the financial incentives considerably will not lead to a big leap in adoption. However education is found to be critical for catalyzing both early and mass adoption. For example many from the respondents in the research weren’t even aware that electric cars help drivers save money on both fuel and maintenance in the long run.
All world news
Interview 
Full text
Events 
