Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a series of new environmental policies in late November 2020, including a 10-year ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles. The UK government hopes this policy will invigorate the UK’s electric vehicle market and help meet its climate targets, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050. The US is also working to increase the penetration of electric vehicles under a zero carbon emissions policy and regulations. Europe has begun to implement stricter emissions standards, with the EU announcing a carbon emissions target of no more than 95 grams of carbon dioxide (CO2) per kilometer for new vehicles by 2021, with a fine of €95 per gram for vehicles that exceed the standard.
The European car market declined by 27% in the first ten months of 2020, but sales of electric vehicles have been boosted by the expansion of subsidies in Germany, France, Spain and the UK, and the global estimate for 2025 has been met ahead of schedule. Electric vehicle sales are driven by policy, and the recent two-pronged approach of beating up car manufacturers and sugarcoating the public in Europe in particular has shown clear results in the market.
Despite the growing popularity of electric vehicles, they will still only account for 7% of new cars bought in the UK in October 2020. The Association of British Car Manufacturers and Traders has called on the government to provide long-term incentives for people to buy electric cars and to set targets for charging infrastructure, citing concerns that the high price of electric cars and charging options could affect sales. The UK government will provide around £500 million of funding for infrastructure from 2021 and has developed a 10-point plan to kick-start the low-carbon economy towards the goal of zero emissions by 2050.
In recent years, terms such as artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IOT), 5G and green energy have become popular, and with these terms heating up, intelligence and electrification have become a wave. With governments around the world demanding energy saving and carbon reduction, it is inevitable that electric vehicles will replace fuel vehicles. This, coupled with carbon reduction and the recovery of the green industry, has led to an explosion in global sales of electric vehicles. Tesla’s market value has soared in recent years, even surpassing major car manufacturers such as GM, Ford and Toyota.
While the epidemic continues, the control or end of the Covid-19 pandemic is seen as a contributing factor to the expected rebound in sales as more people are vaccinated and management changes are made; the new status of electric vehicles has clearly increased and electric vehicles will begin to take over the mainstream. The automotive industry will begin to accelerate the development and sale of electric vehicles, leading to higher sales of electric vehicles.
