Long road ahead for electric car
THE number of electric vehicles on roads worldwide rose to a record two million last year — but there’s a long way to go before there are enough of them to help limit an increase in global temperatures, the International Energy Agency said this week.
In 2015, the number of electric cars, including battery-electric; plug-in hybrid electric, and fuelcell electric passenger lightduty vehicles, was a million, the agency said in a report.
Even at two million vehicles, the global electric car stock is only 0.2% of the total of passenger light-duty vehicles in use. “They have a long way to go before reaching numbers capable of making a significant contribution to greenhouse gas emission reduction targets,” the IEA said.
“To limit temperature increases to below 2ºC by the end of the century, the number of electric cars will need to reach 600 million by 2040.”
Research and production improvements are lowering battery costs, steadily reducing the cost gap between electric cars and internal combustion engines. There is a “good chance” the global electric-car stock could reach carmaker estimates of between nine million and 20 million by 2020 and between 40 and 70 million by 2025, the report said. Globally, 95% of electric car sales are taking place in just ten countries. Last year, China overtook the US as the one with the most electric cars. —