The Road to an Electric Vehicle Future (2024)

FAQs

What is the future for electric vehicles? ›

Electric vehicles could make up as much as nearly half of global car sales by 2035, and our analysts forecast that more advanced autonomous or partially autonomous vehicles will make up the same share of sales just five years later. It's a fundamental shift, upending labor markets, supply chains, and commodity markets.

As part of the Advanced Clean Cars II regulations, all new passenger cars, trucks, and SUVs sold in California will be zero-emission vehicles by 2035.

Sales of electric cars started from a low base but are growing quickly in many markets. Globally, around 1-in-7 new cars sold was electric in 2022 (the preliminary estimate for 2023 is around 1-in-5). In Norway, the share was well over 4-in-5, and in China, it was around 1-in-3.

California is ahead of other states for a number of reasons. As you mentioned, it can establish more protective vehicle emissions regulations than the federal government, and it now requires manufacturers and dealers to sell an increasing number of zero emission vehicles, culminating in 100 percent of sales by 2035.

While bigger batteries allow drivers to travel farther between charges, they also make the cars heavier, more dangerous, more expensive, and worse for the planet. The "range anxiety" that has resulted in massive batteries is another reason EVs don't work as a replacement for gas cars.

When a new vehicle is made, an old one doesn't simply disappear. Vehicles, electric or otherwise, last for many years. Even if reach 60% of new sales in 2050, the majority will still be gas. Based on this, there's a long way to go before EVs overtake gas vehicles.

No. California is only banning the sale of new cars that are solely powered by internal combustion engines. Gas-powered cars that are already on the road by 2035 will still be legal to own and drive.

In a report last month, Thunder Said Energy, a Europe-based energy research firm run by industry analyst Rob West, said that even if 97% of new car sales in the developed world are fully electric in 2050, there will be about 1 billion gasoline-powered and hybrid vehicles on the world's roads that year.

When it comes strictly down to numbers of miles and years, an EV will likely outlast an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle. With regular use, the average lifespan of a gas vehicle is 150,000 miles or eight years, and EVs can last up to 200,000 miles, or about 12 years.

One key disadvantage of electric cars is the battery life. Like all batteries, the capacity decreases over time. Researchers suggest battery capacity decreases by approximately 2.3% every year. Battery longevity is highly dependent on temperature.

What would happen if the US switched to all electric vehicles? ›

As long as the electricity is generated by clean and renewable sources, then their local air would be a lot cleaner. Healthcare costs would reduce, children would be healthier. Further afield, there is a dirty downside, the raw materials currently used in battery technology are not green and not sustainable.

The US would need to produce 20-50% more electricity annually if all cars were electric vehicles.

Gas cars are cheaper compared to fuel than electric cars. Electricity is usually more expensive than gasoline, which means that it will cost you more per mile, so gas-powered cars offer better value for money in the long run.

While the world does have enough lithium to power the electric vehicle revolution, it's less a question of quantity, and more a question of accessibility. Earth has approximately 88 million tonnes of lithium, but only one-quarter is economically viable to mine as reserves.

But while the all-electric market is slowing, sales are forecast to keep rising. Cox Automotive expects EVs to comprise 10% of the United States' vehicle market by the end of the year, up from 7.6% last year — when domestic sales hit a record 1.2 million — and 5.9% in 2022.

If you want to make a positive environmental impact and reduce your carbon footprint, switching over to your first electric car is the way to go. With more electric motor models to choose from, now is the time to replace your gas powered car with an electric vehicle.

Simply put, EV prices are most likely to go down once they become truly mainstream. The great news is that many analysts agree that we reached that point in 2023. With EV market share climbing to a new record of 8.1% of all new vehicle sales in America in 2023, the EV revolution is happening slowly but surely.

The cost of batteries may further decrease in 2023, making EVs more affordable in the coming years. According to Bloomberg, EVs will be cheaper to buy than comparable gas-powered ones by 2025, and the estimated average cost of an electric car by 2025 is expected to be around $35,000 or even lower.