What’s Going On Here?A new study showed that electric vehicles (EVs) will outsell traditional cars five years earlier than expected – whether carmakers should choose to accept it or not. What Does This Mean?According to Ernst & Young (EY), the combined sales of EVs across the world’s three biggest car markets – Europe, China, and the US – will outpace gas-powered cars by 2033 (tweet this). Individually, though, they’ll hit that tipping point at different times: Europe in 2028, China five years later, and the US coming up the rear in 2036.
The milestone – dubbed “global EV supremacy” – is five years earlier than EY had previously predicted, which probably has something to do with more interest from drivers, as well as governments’ increasingly anti-emission stances. And the surprises didn’t stop there: EY said non-EV sales will represent less than 1% of the global car market by 2045, as more and more countries outright ban gas-guzzling jalopies. Why Should I Care?The bigger picture: It’s not just governments.
Carmakers are starting to lean into the inevitability of it all too. Take Honda: the Japanese conglomerate announced this week that it’ll completely phase out sales of traditional cars by 2040. It’s even staking a claim in the electric motorbike market, with plans to unveil three new all-electric models by 2024. Compare that to rival Japanese carmaker Toyota, which is still convinced that hybrid cars are the way forward.
For markets: When it rains, it pours.
There were two other big EV stories on Wednesday: Chinese EV-maker Xpeng Motors – which is already listed on the US stock market – announced plans to list on Hong Kong’s stock market via an initial public offering that could raise the company up to $2 billion. Then there was Embark Trucks: the company – which, deceptively, doesn’t manufacture EV trucks but their self-driving software – said it’ll be going public by merging with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in a $5 billion deal. | 