What will be the road ahead for electric cars? In recent years, we have written several posts about electric cars. Now, we see a greater effort from major automakers around the globe. Thereby, increasing the competition for Tesla.
Indeed, Ford — whose first Model-T was introduced in 1908 — has a revamped future path. One that de-emphasizes gas-powered cars. While focusing on SUVs and electric vehicles. It promises for an interesting time ahead.
The Steadily Evolving Marketplace: The Road Ahead for Electric Cars
During the past few weeks, the Wall Street Journal published an excellent series of articles on electric cars. Below, we excerpt highlights three of them:
- Electric Vehicles Are the U.S. Auto Industry’s Future — if Dealers Can Figure Out How to Sell Them
- Are Electric Cars Really Better for the Environment?
- What’s Missing in the Electric-Vehicle Revolution: Enough Places to Plug In
Sales
As Nora Naughton reports: “Auto makers are moving aggressively to expand their electric-vehicle offerings with dozens of new models set to arrive in coming years. Some like GM are setting firm targets for when they plan to phase out gas-powered cars entirely.” Now, review two charts from her report.
Charging Stations
One obstacle remains — the relative lack of charging stations. Christopher Mims reports that:
While EVs can be powered up at home, industry analysts and academics believe that a fast-charging infrastructure is essential to getting beyond their current limited adoption. This next wave of slightly-less-early adopters is critical to a global automotive industry betting heavily on battery power. Yet so far, only one carmaker offers a reassuring pitch about conveniently and reliably recharging on the go: Tesla. And Tesla’s fast-charging technology only works on Tesla cars. Building the requisite charging infrastructure for the rest of the EV universe will be expensive. The Biden administration proposes building a network of 500,000 chargers in the next five years, which would cost billions. The fact that many believe such a government investment is required shows just how little faith many industry insiders have in the ability of private enterprise to solve this problem. One issue: Building out the nation’s charging infrastructure might not be profitable.
Electric Cars Versus Gas-Powered Cars
In the third of the articles noted above, , and
Are EVs really better for the environment? A close look at all the factors shows they are. But, it’s a complex answer with some asterisks. The environmental cost of a car includes both building it and fueling it. That means factoring in emissions associated with oil drilling and power plant smokestacks. As well as from mining metals such as nickel and cobalt that are needed for electric-car batteries.
Tesla Versus NIO
To conclude, we show a WSJ video comparing Tesla with China’s new NIO.
One thought on “%1$s”