Electric Vehicles Are the Future of the Auto Industry

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) estimates in the latest industry-focused report that by 2020, pure electric vehicles (PEV's) could represent between two and five percent of the total output of light vehicles. PwC also warns that despite the benefits electric vehicles provide, several important challenges, such as the limited driving range due to relatively short battery life or the lack of an available network of charging stations (where is the federal government on giving incentives to add charging stations to commercial establishments like restaurants, hotels and office buildings?), remain that may slow and/or impede the penetration that these vehicles can achieve in the marketplace.

Because the concept of mass vehicle electrification is fairly new to the automotive sector, continued R&D funding is necessary to increase efficiencies and decrease consumer cost however with relatively new technology and low sales volumes, significantly higher costs will be incurred by consumers purchasing electric vehicles.

An appeal to consumers is that the cost savings realized from using electricity rather than gasoline will amortize quickly enough to offset the higher transaction price.