Auto Execs Ready To Bail On Transition To Electric Vehicles?
Electric vehicles are touted as the savior of the automotive industry, bringing it into a greener, more economical future, but now automotive executives aren’t sure. There is uncertainty in the air regarding the rate of converting to electric vehicles from traditional gas ones, as there are still supply chain issues and rising concerns that a recession is coming.
Over 900 executives within the automotive industry took part in an annual survey, which showed that 76% are concerned that the economic instability will affect how their businesses operate next year. Both statistics are incredibly high, which is concerning.
These executives are also concerned about the global changes from combustion engines to an all-electric vehicles industry by 2030. The percentage of electric cars sold has gone from 20% to 70% to a reduced 10% to 40%. For the US automotive market alone, EV’s projected number of sales has gone from 65% to 35%, which is a significant drop.
While everyone is being realistic at the moment with these new figures being released, there is still an air of positivity for the future.
The reduced optimism also comes from the new, stricter requirements from the government tax incentives for electric vehicles. There are rising concerns about the raw materials for batteries and the initial price of EVs. These concerns are added to the initial economic concerns, which adds up to a bleak picture indeed.
As EVs are part of global automotive businesses, these massive companies need to find new ways to identify people considering a change of automobile. It turns out that it may prove more difficult than expected, but that doesn’t mean this movement will fail.
Also, from that survey, executives are united in predicting that Tesla will keep its lead as the electric vehicle master. But they believe Tesla’s technology will not be so far ahead of all the other automotive manufacturers. But more unexpectedly, they were unanimous in thinking that Apple would be one of the leaders in EV technology in the next few years. Apple has been rumored to be developing an electric vehicle for years, but it has never been confirmed.
A surprising omission from the Top 10 electric vehicle manufacturers was General Motors. None of the many brands General Motors owns were mentioned, despite publicly stating that they will be exclusively developing and selling electric vehicles by 2035.
While the recession was not mentioned in the survey, it is an evident concern for companies as it is becoming more and more of a reality that it may actually happen. It is something no business wants after the last number of years since the pandemic, especially one that is trying to push a new type of technology on a demographic that is slow on the uptake.
Electric vehicles are the future. They will help in the battle between us and climate change. It is a necessary change that humans have to make in order to for our planet to rejuvenate. Hopefully, once the economy recovers, so will the electric vehicle market.
