Since day zero, we've known EVs were to be the future of clean, green mass transportation and every month, a new milestone seems to be reached, supercharging the argument - if there's one left to have.
Our history: Net zero from day zero, driving EVs to the fore
A diverse group of leading economies from Norway to the Netherlands and emerging giants India and China, as well as arguably the 20th century "home" of oil production and the fossil fuel economy in the US, have all now seen EVs surpass the five percent sales mark for new cars.
Momentum is gathering pace in both the traditionally wealthy as well as in developing countries and the tipping point brings electric vehicles undisputably out of niche territory and firmly into the mainstream.
Bloomberg Green and the New Zealand Ministry of Transport have outlined that once past the five percent mark, adoption accelerates strongly - with five percent becoming 25% by 2026, even in economies like the US that have just reached the former mark.
What's driving adoption?
Availability is one factor. Some 26 million electric vehicles were on the road in 2022 (IEA), with the growth worldwide hitting almost a fifth of all new sales in 2023.
It's not just a shift in policy that's driving EV adoption, it's the EVs themselves - they're getting better all the time and consumers are loving it.
A recent paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that the growth in demand for EVs is due to the appeal of the vehicles themselves, with features and technology catching the eye of buyers - making them too good to pass up.
What does this mean? Well, as ranges improve as EVs get quicker and prove their low-cost maintenance credentials over their ICE equivalents, then the rapid rise in their sales' share should continue.
The study also found that consumers are increasingly finding EVs to be fun to drive in terms of ride and engagment in a way that comparable ICE cars just aren't.
What's more encouraging is that this survey was carried out three years ago - before the raft of innovations in range, performance and technology the world's leading automakers - many on the Formula E grid - have since driven. Prices are falling too. EVs relative expense was once consumers' major concern when looking to buy a new vehicle. The cost gap is shrinking, which, again, will drive growth in market share.
“This is positive news because it’s showing that even when we’re talking about mainstream consumers, they’re still valuing the attributes of all-electric vehicles," said Kate Whitefoot, a co-author of the paper and engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon. “As we continue to see increases in the range of EVs and dropping prices relative to gasoline vehicles, more and more mainstream consumers will choose electric vehicles.”
These immediately tangible factors for a buyer - cost, range, performance and tech versus the comparable ICE vehicle - are all increasingly heading in battery electric' vehicles' favour. It's having a strong influence on consumer preferences, even if they have no other reason to consider an EV like their positive impact on climate and air pollution.
In short?
- Zero emissions: improving air quality and combating climate change
- More efficient: lower cost to maintain than combustion-engined vehicles, 90+% motor efficiency vs 20-25% petrol and diesel
- Quieter and reduce noise pollution
- Convenient: can be home charged
- Cost of entry now matching ICE vehicles
What's EV adoption doing to oil consumption?
It's helping crush demand, essentially.
The International Energy Agency says EVs will displace five million barrels of oil every day by 2030, though that mark could arrive sooner than the IEA's last dataset forecast - such is the acceleration in adoption at the moment.
Things are only going one way, and we'll be there for the next big milestone, driving EV tech forward as fast our world-leading paddock of engineers can muster.