RE: Driving Home For Christmas and EV's23 Dec 2021 17:14
Car sales are down by 20% compared to 2019.
https://carsalesbase.com/united-kingdom-car-sales-data/
Car sales in 2021 are fairly flat on 2020.
10% of total 2020 car sales equates to 7% of 2019 pre pandemic sales.
I've no idea if the chip shortages have impacted ICE vehicles more than electric vehicles. If so, perhaps all electric demand has been satisfied and ICE sales have been held back? I don't think we'll see the true picture until the end of the chip shortage and the end of the pandemic.
One thing, to bear in mind, is that the UK is a densely populated island - London and the South East especially. Electric cars might work fairly well in Surrey, but I doubt they'd be as useful in rural France, USA, India, etc.
The thing that will drive PGM usage will be an expanding ICE market combined with tightening emissions regulations in China, India, etc. I think this is a mega trend that SLP will ride over the next decade.
I'm very much in the 'don't believe the hype' camp for the Green Revolution. I think the climate change models are even less reliable than Professor Ferguson's predictions of covid doom. None of their predictions from 20 years ago have come to pass - e.g. London under water, no snow ever again in the UK, no more ski season in the Alps, etc.
More sensible nations will pay lip service to the rules and targets until the wheels come off the bandwagon.