Electric Cars: The next big thing for mass markets

The largest automaker by worldwide sales, Volkswagen (VW), is stepping up its shift to electric cars and plans to invest more than 20 billion euros in zero-emission vehicles by 2030. VW aims to challenge pioneer Tesla in creating a mass market, Reuters said.

   At the same time, an another company, Daimler, mentioned recently that its Mercedes-Benz luxury brand planned to offer electric motors for all models by 2022, though cautioned the shift to lower-margin electric cars required extra cost savings. Also, BMW which launched the i3 electric car in 2013, said that it was readying its factories to mass produce electric vehicles by 2020.

   So, we have to see the bigger picture. China, the world’s biggest automotive market, is studying when to stop the production and sale of combustion engine vehicles, echoing moves by Britain and France, which have announced bans for conventional cars from 2040. These reports covers more countries day by day, and this is the next big thing for mass markets.

   Tesla in January started mass production of lithium-ion battery cells at its own factory in Nevada, which is aiming for annual battery production capacity of 35 gigawatt-hours, said a report at Reuters. Hence, by the time the industry will surpass the problem of storing energy for the cars, then there will be extremely beneficial fields in the market.

   Companies around the industry all over the world, want to enter and exploit the potential market advantages in the electric era, while the world is transforming its environmental fundamentals. Despite the current risks, this market will be expanded as soon as possible, especially in states like China and India, where air pollution is a major issue. And one last comment, do not confuse electric with smart cars. These are two completely different definitions.