Bloomberg Businessweek November 16, 2020 pp19-21 |Business| “Green Cars Won on Election Day, Too” “A Biden administration could jump-start aid for the industry’s transition to electric vehicles” “Bottomline Automakers are expected to sell 121 EV models in the U.S. by 2025. But the companies say federal tax subsidies will be key to juicing consumer demand”
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Data presented
Number of Battery-EV models available in the U.S. actual and forecast (Approximate #)
2020-10
2021-30
2022-75
2023-90
2024-110
2025-121
Summary of Article
The Biden administration has “outlined a plan that will replenish money for a tax credit that gives consumers $7500 for buying an electric vehicle, and he wants to build 500,000 charging stations across the U.S. that will help new start-ups like Fisker, Lucid Motors, Rivian Automotive and late-comer established makers like Ford Motor company, VW, BMW, Mercedes Benz but especially Tesla and GM who have already maxed out on these previous incentives with 200,000 consumers using them. By 2025 EVs which currently are priced thousands more than average non-EV models should with sufficient demand bring production costs down to a competitive level.
To this point in time government incentives have been key in driving sales for Tesla and others notably GM. Companies are encouraged by the promise of a new round of incentives but also by “governments in China and Europe [that] are mandating electric drive systems…”. Total EV sales should increase to 1M “by the end of Biden’s first term. That’s more than four times the number U.S. Industry sold last year.” “GM has said it will convert three U.S. Assembly plants to make battery powered models.” GM has plans for 20 models globally, Tesla has 4 with a “Cybertruck and a two-seat roadster planned…By the end of 2022, GM will have the Hummer pickup EV, Cadillac Lyriq crossover SUV, and a larger version of the Chevy Bolt. “Ford has its Mustang Mach-E crossover SUV and an electric pickup truck coming.”
Adding charging stations across the country will help create new demand by reducing “range anxiety” but most experienced owners charge at home. According to Mike Jackson, Chairman of AutoNation, Inc-the largest U.S. car dealership, “I think the inflection point toward electric vehicles is here, and there’s no turning back, the only issue is, what is the rate of adoption.”