Flipping the Switch
A showroom of affordable (and profitable) electric vehicles in all shapes and sizes has long been the holy grail for automakers and regulators alike.
It is a long-standing dance that has gone on for nearly 50 years: Regulators set ambitious emissions-reduction targets with long lead times, the established automakers cry, “Impossible!” then hunker down and either work to defang the mandates or occasionally hit the targets, sometimes ahead of schedule. Solutions to date have been a mix of improving the efficiency of the gas-powered fleet, adding hybrids, and developing a few token electric vehicles sold at a loss to the few buyers who want them. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Automakers have attempted to lure the public into electric vehicles but made little headway. Part of it is confirmation bias: Automakers spend far more on advertising gas-guzzling SUVs than battery-powered hatchbacks. As a result, pure electric vehicles still account for less than 2 percent of U.S. vehicle sales, and four out of every five of those sales is a Tesla. But is the market poised for change?
Tipping Point in EV Popularity?
The prize is within grasp as the industry pivots to offer EVs fitted with cheaper and more energy-dense batteries, thus delivering greater range and lower prices that bring parity with gas-powered counterparts ever closer.
“We’ll reach a point in the U.S. where nearly every brand offers modern, compelling battery electric vehicles soon, and that is a clear change,” IHS Markit principal analyst Stephanie Brinley said. To Brinley, this appears to be the tipping point when automaker
