Reality Kicking In, page-11

Germany and Norway led growth in the European Union

Europe’s EV market grew by nearly 40 percent from 2016 to 2017, albeit from a small sales base. A variety of factors contributed, such as the ongoing headwinds for diesel technology and increasing customer interest in EVs.

Much of the regional momentum emerged in Germany, where the EV market more than doubled.

That country is now Europe’s second-largest EV market, outperformed only by Norway.



Excluding the Netherlands, where an incentive shift from PHEVs to BEVs led to a significant drop in overall EV sales, European markets underlined the regional growth trajectory.

Norway’s EV sales-penetration rate reached 32 percent in 2017, and by December every second passenger car sold there was an EV.

Norway stands largely alone in its mass-market embrace of electric vehicles, so it provides a real-world picture of future EV sales proportions that developed markets could experience over the next five to ten years.

Exhibit 4 shows the four stages of a disruptive trend. Having reached a critical mass of EVs, Norway is clearly ahead of other countries—the EV disruption is inevitable.



Most other countries are still in the first stage, except for China and Sweden, which have already advanced to the second: disruption is somewhat more clear, with EVs emerging as a validated model.


The rollout of more attractive, better-performing EVs in key high-demand segments is another major driver for sales uptake, both in Europe and the United States.

Nevertheless, at 27 percent, US growth lagged behind that of China and the European Union, since fuel prices remain low, reducing the operating-cost advantage of EVs.

Likewise, the US Environmental Protection Agency recently announced that it would revise existing vehicle-emission standards (set by the previous administration), which require cars and light trucks to average more than 50 miles a gallon by 2025.

It is still unclear what the new standards will look like, but the regulations, or the time frame for their adoption, will probably be relaxed.

However, California and 12 states that follow its lead are determined to maintain stronger air-pollution standards than the federal government does.

India is new to the EVI this year. Both EV market acceptance and EV industry dynamics are at an early stage: the EV-adoption rate is less than 1 percent and domestic OEMs are just starting to launch EV models.

Although the government rolled out a new tax policy to encourage EV adoption, a clear strategic road map is still missing.

Demand comes mainly from commercial owners and the public sector, and the country has almost no charging infrastructure.

Since India’s carbon-dioxide levels from electricity generation are among the world’s highest, it also needs more renewable-energy sources for its EVs to achieve true “well-to-wheel” zero-emission status.

New models (and regulations) to stoke markets

Global automakers will reportedly launch approximately 340 BEV and PHEV models in the next three years, significantly reducing supply as a barrier to further market uptake.

The OEMs’ increased attention mainly reflects tougher emissions targets, especially in China and Europe, and announcements that several countries, as well as cities around the world, will set end dates for the sale of diesel- and gasoline-powered vehicles.

Norway, for example, wants BEVs to account for 100 percent of its new-car sales by 2025.

California, France, and the United Kingdom have proclaimed that they will end sales of ICEs by 2040.

China too seems to be developing a long-term plan to abandon vehicles powered by fossil fuels: a new EV policy, which will become effective by 2019, requires automakers to comply with a mandatory EV credit target.

As a result, several international automakers announced new joint ventures with domestic Chinese brands to develop and produce numerous EVs together.

Electric vehicles have made meaningful progress in several regions and countries as they passed the milestone of one million sales, in 2017.

With demand rising and manufacturers ramping up production capacities, the market will continue to grow.

www.mckinsey.com/industries/automotive-and-assembly/our-insights/the-global-electric-vehicle-market-is-amped-up-and-on-the-rise


Volvo. Recharged.

Our cars have always been designed to help protect people. We will now design them to help protect the planet too.

For a safer future

We are recharging everything we do, from our cars to our factories and supply chain.

Our ambition is to reduce our carbon footprint by 40% per car by 2025 compared to 2018.

And to be climate neutral by 2040.

Because we have only one planet.

Volvo has been developing innovative and exciting technology designed to protect our environment and make roads safer.

Our Electric Car range is set to form a pivotal part of the future automotive landscape.

Every new Volvo car we launch will be electrified.

Today, we are the only traditional car maker to offer plug-in hybrid options on all our models. And over the next five years, we will launch five new fully electric cars.

It is our ambition that by 2025, half of the cars we sell will be electric.

Electric is not enough

It’s a start. But it’s not the entire solution.

To protect the safety of our planet, we must do more than merely electrify our cars.

Our vision is to be climate neutral across our full value chain by 2040 – a decade ahead of the Paris Agreement goal.

So everything we do, has to be recharged.

Operations. Recharged.

By 2025, we aim to reduce our total operational carbon emissions by 25% per car compared to 2018.

This includes everything we do as a company, from manufacturing to business travel, as well as our retailer network.

We already work towards climate neutrality in our manufacturing operations by 2025, and are making good progress with around 80% of our global plants powered by renewable electricity.

Supply chain. Recharged.

We aim to reduce supply chain carbon emissions – a major part of our overall value chain emissions – by 25% per car by 2025 compared to 2018.

This includes emissions generated from the production of components and materials, and from the extraction of minerals and metals.

We’ll work towards this vision in several ways, including helping our suppliers to increase their renewable energy use, as well as using more sustainable materials in our cars and reducing waste.

We already have an ambition that at least 25% of all plastics used in new Volvo cars launched after 2025 will be made from recycled materials.


www.volvocars.com/au/why-volvo/human-innovation/volvo-recharged


The future of automotive

Electric cars are set to form a pivotal part of the future automotive landscape after a century of historical false starts with electrification.

They were primitive in the late 19th century and early 20th century, of course – essentially a horseless carriage powered by batteries. And by the 1930s, electric cars had all but disappeared as the internal combustion engine soared in popularity.



The growing trend of electric cars

The growing trend of electric cars the 1970 Clean Air Act and 1973 oil crisis influenced a revival of interest in electric cars in the 1970s, but manufacturers were more excited than buyers and their return was short-lived, petering out by the turn of the next decade.

Two factors continued to plague electric vehicles (EVs): their relatively high cost compared with similarly-sized cars, and ‘range anxiety’ – the term given to a driver’s fear of running out of battery power and being stranded.

Momentum for electric cars seems unstoppable now, however. Battery technology continues to develop at a fast rate, and multiple manufacturers have committed to a significant percentage of EVs in their showrooms for the next decade.

And in 2017, Volvo Cars became the first manufacturer to declare that its entire model range would become electrified in at least some form: mild hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and fully electric.

This will include models that meet the classic definition of an electric car: a vehicle that is powered only by one or more electric motors.

The benefits of electric cars

Vehicles powered by electricity rather than petroleum offer several advantages.

Significantly, in terms of more sustainable motoring, battery-electric vehicles produce zero emissions at the tailpipe. Just how environmentally friendly they are, however, depends on whether a given country’s primary energy source is itself sustainable.

(Australia, for example, relies heavily on coal power, whereas Volvo’s home country of Sweden is more focused on renewable energy.)

In the case of petrol-electric vehicles – such as Volvo Cars’ Twin Engine models – fuel consumption and emissions are still stunningly low (see Volvo Electric Cars section, below).

‘Refueling’ a pure electric car is also a far cleaner experience as there is no smelly or oily liquid involved, as with petrol or diesel. It’s clean hands and clean feet all around as you simply push the vehicle’s recharging plug into a relevant power socket.

The benefits of electric cars also extend to performance and refinement. Unlike conventional internal combustion engines, electric car motors typically produce torque from zero revs – creating instantaneous response when moving off from a stationary position.

The acceleration can be exhilarating in some cases, and slightly surreal as there is none of the engine noise associated with regular cars – just a faint whine from the electric motor or motors.

This contributes to a quieter cabin, while progress is super-smooth as electric motors typically employ just a single gear where conventional petrol/diesel engines require transmissions with multiple ratios for the crucial matching of engine speed to road speed.

Going the distance

Electric cars driving range the distance you can travel on a full charge varies between electric vehicles – essentially determined by the size of their battery packs, and their energy density – measured in kilowatt hours.

Compact electric cars have typically been offering a range of about 160km, though continual electric-car development means newer models are reaching claims of 200km, or even close to double that distance.

Some larger EVs are already capable of about 500km – and a new generation of EVs arriving in the next few years will reach a similar range, according to manufacturer claims.

Volvo Electric Cars

The Volvo Cars showroom of the near future will comprise vehicles that all feature at least one electric motor.

Fully electric range

Volvo Cars will launch five fully electric cars between 2019 and 2021. Of these electric cars for sale, three will wear the famous Volvo ironmark, with the other two wearing the Polestar badge of Volvo’s high-performance arm.

The move is a natural progression for a car maker that has produced various hybrid concept cars since the 1992 Environmental Concept Car before introducing production plug-in hybrid models in recent years.

In 2020 Volvo will be launching a complete electrified carline of plug-in hybrids and pure electric cars and by 2025 Volvos ambition is to have around 50% of the cars sold to be pure electric, and the other 50% to be hybrids.


www.volvocars.com/au/buy/your-guide/electric-cars


Volvo secures EV 'battery supply for the upcoming decade'


Deals with LG Chem and CATL will help the automaker meet its goal of having half of its sales be pure EVs by 2025.

Overnight Volvo Cars inked a long term multi-billion dollar lithium-ion battery supply deal with LG Chem and CATL, an important step in meeting its lofty electrification goals.

Last year Volvo said it was aiming to have half of its sales be fully electric cars by 2025, easily trumping its earlier commitments.

Håkan Samuelsson, CEO of Volvo Cars, says the automaker is "firmly committed to moving beyond the internal combustion engine" and today's agreements show "how we will reach our ambitious electrification targets".

Martina Buchhauser, head of procurement at Volvo, believes the deals have "effectively secured our battery supply for the upcoming decade".

LG Chem is part of the larger South Korean LG conglomerate, while China-based CATL is already a supplier to the PSA Group, BMW and others.

Volvo says both suppliers were able to meet both its cost targets, as well as its "strict sourcing guidelines".

Batteries delivered as part of the new deals will be used in upcoming electric models based on the Compact Modular Architecture, which currently underpins the Volvo XC40 and Lynk & Co range, as well as the second generation of the Scalable Product Architecture used by everything from the S60 up to the XC90.

www.caradvice.com.au/756625/volvo-battery-deal/

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