Electric cars pass a crucial tipping point in 23 countries5 Sep 2023 18:52
Electric cars pass a crucial tipping point in 23 countries
Tom Randall | Bloomberg
13 hours ago
Convincing everyone to adopt a new technology can be a slog at first. The humble microwave oven, for example, took two decades of lukewarm sales to reach just a tenth of U.S. households. But then came the 1980s, and quicker than you could say “Hot Pockets,” microwaves had spread to nearly every kitchen.
That fast part of the technology adoption curve is happening now with electric vehicles, according to a Bloomberg Green analysis of adoption rates around the world. When we first completed this analysis a year ago, 19 countries had passed what’s become a critical EV tipping point: 5% of new car sales powered only by electricity. This threshold signals the start of mass adoption, when technological preferences rapidly flip. Since then, five more countries have made the leap.
The newcomers — Canada, Australia, Spain, Thailand and Hungary — join a cohort that also includes the U.S., China and most of Western Europe. The trajectory laid out by these early adopters shows how EVs can surge from 5% to 25% of new cars in just four years.
In the U.S., the EV tipping point didn’t arrive until late 2021 — relatively late for a country with its spending power. There were reasons for that delay. Americans spend more time in their cars than any other populace, and drivers demanded longer ranges than early models offered. Pickup trucks and large SUVs, which make up more than half of the U.S. market, were also slow to electrify due to their massive battery needs.
Today, U.S. EV sales are rising fast — up 42% in the second quarter compared with the same period a year ago — but haven’t quite matched the explosive trajectory of other countries that crossed over. That could change as Tesla, the world’s biggest EV maker, prepares to launch its Cybertruck pickup, and as competitors roll out EVs under some of the most iconic American brands: Chevy Blazer and Silverado, Ford Explorer and F-150, Jeep Wrangler, and Ram 1500, to name a few.
https://eu.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/2023/09/05/electric-cars-pass-a-crucial-tipping-point-in-23-countries/70760948007/
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