In 2017 sales of electric cars in the world rose by 54 per cent, exceeding the level of three million vehicles announced by the International Energy Agency (IEA) Lots off electric cars are noticeably taking over the market share of the auto industry lately. From the electrification pioneer, Tesla with its Roadster, over Rimc, which is more a polygon for new technology than a car, the world’s luxury brands are entering this race.
Vehicles and supercar manufacturer’s Maserati and Porsche were presenting their models a decade ago announced the glorification of diesel that affair “Dieselgate” thwarted. Today, the same two brands announce a new momentum in the industry, announcing electric supercars.
Vehicles electrification of the auto industry will not come as fast as the manufacturers themselves announced, but new carriers are emerging from day to day in the world of electric cars, said Carlander’s editor Emir Kalender.
Race for the inclusion in the story of electrification has begun for manufacturers such as Porsche, Mercedes, Audi, BMW, and Volkswagen also demonstrates their vision of the future. It best confirms that all these manufacturers have joined the Formula E championship, through which they will develop electro-mobility technology, and which will later be transferred for road cars, “says Kalender.
Provided that the entire national economy relies on the auto industry and manufacturing components for internal combustion engines, according to analysts, the big risk lies in too fast transition to electric cars.
Although electric cars globally have become an integral part of everyday life, the most prominent transient variant is represented by vehicles with hybrid motors, a combination of internal combustion engines and an electric motor. Toyota is the pioneer of this approach and has a range of hybrids.
What keeps the slow pace of developing electric cars is the lack of charging infrastructure, as well as the inconsistency of existing networks for continuous battery charging.
Japanese automotive giant Toyota plans to enrich its production line with more than ten models of fully electric vehicles in the early 2020s, which shows that Japanese manufacturer’s turn to this growing technology sector.
The company says that by 2025 each of their models in sales will have some “electrified” version, such as a hybrid, electric or fuel cell engine. This car manufacturer hopes to sell 5.5 million electric cars by year 2030. Toyota sells about ten million vehicles a year worldwide.
The company said it would invest 1,500 billion yen ($ 13 billion) to meet its target in 2030, and more than half of that amount will be invested in battery production.
German auto industry has a leading position in the global market and it is clear that it wants to stay there. By the year 2025, Volkswagen wants to present 30 electric models. Also, Mercedes and BMW want to present a slightly smaller number of models.
Volkswagen presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show all its power in the segment of electro mobility and autonomous vehicles. The entire auto segment made up of electric models was created and according to the announcements of the German giant, the first compact electric model from Volkswagen will arrive at the end of 2019.
China has exerted pressure on manufacturers to accelerate the development of electric cars by raising the standard planned for the first year, but delaying their public presentation for 2019.
This is the latest measure of a government that wants to make China a leader in electric car technology because it sees these vehicles as a way to reduce enormous pollution in cities and also to build a successful industry.
Each company will have to make at least 10 per cent of the electric cars out of the total number of manufactured vehicles, while according to the previous proposal this standard was eight per cent. According to regulations issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the minimum quota will increase to 12 per cent in 2020. Those who do not meet the quota will pay a fee, and money from the fee will be given to those who succeed.
The introduction of new electric cars has been shifted from 2018 to 2019, after warning that only a few manufacturers could make so early enough vehicles for the market.
China has become the largest market for electric vehicles. Sales of electric and hybrid cars rose 50 per cent from 2015 to 336,000 vehicles, or 40 per cent of global demand. In the US, 159,620 electric cars have been sold.
The government assisted the development of electric cars, as well as their customers, investing in research and providing subsidies, a new quota system, the financial burden will be transferred to the auto industry. Since China is the largest market in the number of sold cars, global manufacturers, including General Motors, Volkswagen and Nissan are looking at joint ventures with Chinese development partners and the production of electric cars.
Chinese car manufacturer BYD Auto is the world’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer and sells products to the United States, Europe and Latin America.
The key raw material for the batteries production is cobalt, most deployed in the conflicts affecting the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Human rights groups warn of corruption in the cobalt industry and often very poor working conditions of miners in that country.
The supply chain of the world with new cleaner technology leads to boys who work shifts in dark mines without oxygen. CNN has a footage that clearly shows that kids dig cobalt ore, which is then loaded onto vehicles.
Cobalt ore is driven to the market where it enters the supply chain for large corporations. World manufacturers of electric cars claim to examine the origin of cobalt using, but they refused to specify where exactly origin of cobalt in their use is.
The CNN team that made this report has been prevented several times from shooting and this was done by local officials and officials of the relevant ministry of the Congo.
Stefano Virgilli
stefano@virgilli.com
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