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Electric Vehicles Have Another Record Year, Reaching 2 Million Cars In 2016 (iea.org)

An anonymous reader shares a report from the International Energy Agency: The number of electric cars on the roads around the world rose to 2 million in 2016, following a year of strong growth in 2015, according to the latest edition of the International Energy Agency's Global EV Outlook. China remained the largest market in 2016, accounting for more than 40% of the electric cars sold in the world. With more than 200 million electric two-wheelers and more than 300,000 electric buses, China is by far the global leader in the electrification of transport. China, the US and Europe made up the three main markets, totaling over 90% of all EVs sold around the world. Electric car deployment in some markets is swift. In Norway, electric cars had a 29% market share last year, the highest globally, followed by the Netherlands with 6.4%, and Sweden with 3.4%. The electric car market is set to transition from early deployment to mass market adoption over the next decade or so. Between 9 and 20 million electric car could be deployed by 2020, and between 40 and 70 million by 2025, according to estimates based on recent statement from carmakers.

34 of 332 comments (clear)

  1. China, the US and Europe by turkeydance · · Score: 3, Insightful

    made up the three main markets....of just about everything

  2. Need to get cooler looking electric cars by mykepredko · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I feel like I'm the only person in the world that doesn't get a stiffy when looking at a Tesla. The Model S reminds me too much of a Jag with a dashboard that is overwhelmed with the 17" display and the Model 3 is just plain ugly.

    Just like the Bolt and the Leaf. The i3 is about the best of a bad lot.

    How about putting the front line designers on the vehicles and get the concepts evaluated by real people (not tree huggers that want drivers to be tortured even if they're burning electrons and not dinosaur sludge)?

    I don't need to scream out at the world I have an electric car, I want something that looks nice, drives well and I can smile smugly to myself when I pass the pumps.

    1. Re:Need to get cooler looking electric cars by MightyMartian · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Technology has to go through stages. First you have the early adopters, who will buy the initial market offerings, which are inevitably too large, too expensive, and too inadequate, but they get to go around and say things "Have you seen my awesome cellular phone? And it only ways 10 lbs!"

      Then you get the hipsters. They're the ones that buy the next generation of a technology, which has been greatly improved, but it still very damned expensive, but they're proud to announce over a cafe latte "I can buy my Pendleton scarves on Ebay with this!"

      Then you get the executives. They want rugged and yet screams "I'm outrageously wealthy with a wife, a mistress and $200,000 sports car!" Again, the tech is still expensive, but at least it's now within the realm of an ordinary middle class grunt getting one.

      The final stage is basically here everyone from a 12 year old to your gramma can get one. That's pretty much peak evolution for a technology. After that it's just steady refinement until one day, a successor product, after having gone through the early adopter, hipster and executive stages knocks it off its mantle and it ends up in a box somewhere and when you finally kick the bucket, your kids can go "Oh yeah, remember when we used to play Candy Crush and look up porn on that?"

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    2. Re:Need to get cooler looking electric cars by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 3, Funny

      The i3 isn't bad, but the i5 and i7 are better. Oh and there's the new upcoming i9 too, that thing is seriously badass.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    3. Re:Need to get cooler looking electric cars by Jeremi · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I don't need to scream out at the world I have an electric car, I want something that looks nice, drives well and I can smile smugly to myself when I pass the pumps.

      How about a Volt? It's pretty understated, it works well, is emissions free for the first 38 miles each day and you don't ever have to worry about getting stranded by a depleted battery.

      --


      I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
    4. Re:Need to get cooler looking electric cars by DirkDaring · · Score: 4, Informative

      FYI it's up to 53 miles now in the new version.

    5. Re:Need to get cooler looking electric cars by jimbolauski · · Score: 2

      You are 100% correct the i3 is not bad it's awful. BMW should recall every i3 and remove all the W's on its badging.

      --
      Knowledge = Power
      P= W/t
      t=Money
      Money = Work/Knowledge so the less you know the more you make
  3. Re:Amazing isn't it... by MightyMartian · · Score: 5, Insightful

    One hundred and twenty years ago an automobile was a pretty unique sight, and I'm sure every fellow with a horse and carriage snorted "You got to find the gasoline for it, it's smelly a noisy. Who would want that when you've got a perfectly good horse?"

    In 1900, there 8,000 cars in the US. By 1910 there were over 458,000.
    Source: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/...

    And that's why we joke about buggy whip manufacturers.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  4. Re:Amazing isn't it... by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 2

    Color me utterly unimpressed... I'll keep my ICE vehicle, thank you very much.

    That's like, a really cold comment, dude.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  5. Re:Amazing isn't it... by MightyMartian · · Score: 2

    There are nine million horses in the United States. There are 260 million automobiles.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  6. Obligatory Responses by CohibaVancouver · · Score: 5, Insightful

    - Insert obligatory Slashdot 'electric vehicle' responses here -

    [Response 1: My commute is 300 miles! As a result this electric vehicle is useless for everyone!]

    [Response 2: Some electricity is coal-generated! As a result, in all jurisdictions, this car is more polluting than a 1973 VW Microbus!]

    1. Re:Obligatory Responses by mark-t · · Score: 4, Interesting

      [Response 3: I do not have a private garage and have no place to charge it at home]. While there are an ever growing number of public charging facilities, given that charging times are rarely less than 20 minutes, the time you spend just waiting in a line to charge you car at a public charging station can sometimes be an hour or more. Compared to waiting perhaps 5 to 10 minutes in a line up at a gas station where your car can be ready to go in about another 2 or 3 minutes.

      This is actually my own sole objection to electric vehicles, really... and I doubt I'm alone.

    2. Re:Obligatory Responses by blindseer · · Score: 2, Informative

      My first thought about this was about these vehicles being coal powered as you predicted. My second thought was that with billions of people without reliable electric service this development is quite meaningless to them.

      How do we bring electricity to one or two billion more people and not add to the carbon output of humanity? If this plan to replace petroleum powered vehicles with electric ones does not include a plan to develop carbon free energy then we will have a problem.

      Wind power is great until you realize that for every megawatt of capacity installed it takes over 500 tons of steel and 1000 tons of concrete. Nuclear power takes one tenth of that. To replace coal with wind would take 10 billion tons of steel and concrete annually. Current world production of steel and concrete is 1.5 billion tons. This is from a Morgan Stanley director at the 2016 Platts nuclear conference.

      We cannot have "green" energy and provide electricity to the world unless nuclear power is part of the plan. This does not mean solar and wind cannot also be part of that plan but without nuclear power having electric vehicles is not practical.

      We have three choices:
      - Status quo and all that comes with it
      - Nuclear power and an improved environment
      - We join those people without reliable electric services

      I'll predict that someone would respond with that some technological advancement will solve all of our problems. To those thinking this right now I ask, what should we do until that technology comes along? We have three choices, pick one.

      --
      I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
    3. Re:Obligatory Responses by amiga3D · · Score: 2

      Forget Nuclear power. It's not going to happen because when you break ground for a new plant thousands of crazy people will descend on you and picket and sue you into oblivion. Chernobyl and Fukishima failures have brought that hysteria to a crescendo. Forget it.

    4. Re:Obligatory Responses by blindseer · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Still does nothing to address the amount of steel and concrete needed for wind power. Coal and nuclear use 1/10th the steel and concrete for the same power output. Where does this steel and concrete come from?

      If advancements in wind mill technology can halve the cost of wind then would it not also be possible for advancements in technology to reduce the costs of nuclear power by a similar amount? Especially when wind takes so much more resources per production capacity? Wind is dead, it just doesn't know it yet. Once people realize the environmental impact of wind power to that of nuclear then nuclear will dominate.

      Those that oppose nuclear power are ignorant, mentally impaired, or both. We can fix ignorant, but we can't fix stupid.

      --
      I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
    5. Re:Obligatory Responses by thegarbz · · Score: 2

      Of course, all is negated because you found the black swan

      Given the number of black swans in my area. I find this reply to "electricity doesn't work for trains" hilarious.

      There is still a majority of rail that is not electrified.

      Across the entire world yes, America contributes their fair share to that statistic. In the EU >90% is electrified. >98% of haulage is done electrically. Many countries ban train cargo haulage by any non-electric means, and some countries have 100% electrification and ban the use of diesel locos.

      Let's say that we use electric locomotives to move the fuel for airplanes and ships, does that mean we can do away with those oil pipelines? No. Because moving oil by electric train is asking for not only another spill (much more common when moving fuel by train than by pipe) but now it's moving on a rail in close proximity to high voltage power lines.

      Let me quote to you something of reference: "Of course, all is negated because you found the black swan, the tall midget, the short giant."

      The electric lines are a danger to cargo and passengers, put height limitations for cargo when the lines are overhead. Sure, electric trains have advantages which is why they are so common.

      Electric lines aren't a danger to cargo or passengers. The big problem comes in derailment and then 100% of injuries occur due to the derailment itself and nothing to do with the electric lines. It's also why people don't die if their car gets struck by lightning.

      If we made an all out effort to convert those diesel locomotives to electric then we'd have to spend a lot of money, and it would take decades to complete.

      Yeah something taking a while is a good reason not to start.

      What do we do in the mean time? We need to build oil pipelines so that the trains that carry the materials to electrify these lines can run.

      Why didn't you open with "I don't know how electricity is generated, and don't have a clue about how the oil industry works". It is shorter to write and you could have saved half your post.

      No, I'm pretty sure it is the tree huggers that look like idiots here.

      We prefer the term "the rest of the sensible world". India is laughing at you and your polluting oil powered (allegedly) trains.

    6. Re:Obligatory Responses by Maritz · · Score: 2

      This boils down to "we can't have nuclear because we are fucking stupid". I think I probably agree. It's the answer to our problems, but we're fucking dumbasses.

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
    7. Re:Obligatory Responses by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      In 3 years o Leaf ownership, doing regular 150 mile round trips, I've spent maybe 10 minutes waiting for charging. Less than I spent queuing for petrol in the 3 years prior.

      You don't charge an EV like you fuel a combustion car. You park it, plug it in and go do something else you were going to do anyway. 99% of the time it's much, much more convenient than having to go out of your way just to get fuel and dedicate time to nothing but pumping dirty, smelly liquid.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    8. Re:Obligatory Responses by Smidge204 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Do some tinkering with that math and compute how many amps that would be with a typical household electrical service voltage.

      Counterpoint 1: Consider how many hours a day is your vehicle is sitting unused, and that virtually every moment of that could potentially be used for charging.

      Counterpoint 2: The basic "level 2" charging rate available at virtually all private homes and businesses charges at a rate of about 25 miles per hour, and completes a full charge in 4 hours or less.

      but electricity does not work for things like powering trains

      Counterpoint 1: Virtually all light rail in my area is "3rd rail" electric, and pretty much every subway is as well. There is also older, overhead electric type.

      Counterpoint 2: Trains are about the easiest to electrify, adding "battery cars" strikes me as quite feasible.

      long haul trucking, aircraft, watercraft, and so much more

      Counterpoint 1: The vast majority of trucking is not long-haul.

      Counterpoint 2: Why would it be necessary to replace *every* mode of transportation with a single technology? How does it affect the benefits of electrifying personal vehicles if it's currently not practical to make battery electric aircraft?

      Well, for one it might be helpful if idiot tree huggers stop protesting oil pipelines. We need that oil.

      Counterpoint 1: Basically none of the oil in the recently contested Keystone XL pipeline would end up being used in the US. The pipeline is bullshit.

      Counterpoint 2: Yes, we will need petroleum for lots of things for the foreseeable future... all the more reason to try and NOT burn it unless we absolutely have to.

      These idiot tree huggers are destroying the environment.

      Counterpoint: Your derogatory characterization and pigeonholing of people who can see the forest for the trees (if you'll allow the expression) is both inaccurate and childish.
      =Smidge=

  7. Re:And I still have nowhere to charge one by dprimary · · Score: 2

    You have zero outlets in your home? Is it a tent?

  8. Re:Amazing isn't it... by Cmdln+Daco · · Score: 2

    Horse-drawn to Gasoline Car was a revolution.

    Gas to Electric is a little thing that car dealers and mechanics worry about.

  9. Re:Amazing isn't it... by swillden · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I am definitely hopeful. I'd love to buy an electric car now. However, I live in a condo, and board and owners are not interested in installing any charging points in our parking. So, no luck in any foreseeable future.

    Give it a few years. Charging stations in the parking area will become an important competitive point for apartment and condo complexes, just as parking spots and swimming pools are now.

    --
    Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
  10. Re:Here's when I'll buy by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Funny

    I can wait.

    You remind me of my father, who wouldn't buy a color TV until 1998 because they weren't "perfected" yet.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  11. Re:Why do Electric Car makers not make EVs that... by Jeremi · · Score: 5, Informative

    Why do Electric Car makers not make EVs that look Identical or indistinguishable to a Gasoline powered model.

    They do. You just never notice them because, well, they look indistinguishable from the gasoline-powered model.

    Here are some examples of electric cars you probably wouldn't be able pick out of a crowd:

          2017 FIAT 500e
          2017 Ford Fusion Energi
          2017 Mercedes Benz E-Class
          2017 Ford Focus Electric
          2017 Kia Soul EV
          2017 Volkswagen e-Golf

    --


    I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
  12. Re: And I still have nowhere to charge one by Barsteward · · Score: 2

    Thats a bummer, here in the UK you can charge an EV off a standard plug, takes 8-10 hours to fully charge. i think the only proviso is that its best to check your wring is up to date

    --
    "The hands that help are better far than lips that pray." - Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899)
  13. Re:just ban truck games. by dehachel12 · · Score: 3, Informative

    >because he needs that. tesla badly needs same kind of taxing as Finland etc have to go in effect in USA.
    He doesn't need more sales for Tesla. They have a very long list of customers. If you order a tesla 3 NOW you'll have to wait a year. In fact, no adverts for tesla are being made.

  14. Re:just ban truck games. by blindseer · · Score: 2

    look, if you want emissions down in USA it is rather simple, start co2 taxing like many places in the world.

    Taxes won't help. All they will do is make everyone poorer. I've heard talks from people working on alternative energy and funding dries up when taxes are increased. People need the money and freedom to develop the next best thing. Oh, and these people complain about the cost of energy. It takes a lot of energy to weld windmills together and get them tested. Moving the windmills to the site means transport by truck.

    When it comes down to it energy is energy. If carbon fuels are taxed then all energy prices go up. This will always be the case until we no longer burn fossil fuels. Until then adding taxes on the fuels will only slow down the transition, not increase it.

    Think about it. You have an electric train that has a cost of $10 per whatever (I'm not feeling creative enough to thing of proper units right now). I have a diesel train that can do it at $15 per whatever. After I add in overhead and profit margin I come up with a total of $20 per whatever to charge. You want business and maximum profits and so you charge $19 and get most of the business.

    Then a carbon tax comes along, my costs just went up to $20. If I want to make any profit at all I have to raise my price. I do some thinking, and I decide I have to charge $25. What are you going to do? You've already got as much business as you can handle. Your clients aren't going to pick me unless they have to. Unless you also raise your prices, to something like $23, you are going to get hassled by stockholders in your company and potentially sued for not doing your duty as the operator to maximize profits.

    Also, some of what you need for your business will move to you by my and other more expensive trains. At some point you will have to raise prices as the taxes work their way into the prices of goods. Who wins on this? The government. Who loses? EVERYONE.

    I've also talked to people that deal in ethanol. If you want to see a taxation and regulation nightmare then look at what it takes to open an ethanol fuel plant. The prohibition of alcohol may have ended but the taxes never did. If you want to see bio-fuels get some development then we need to get rid of the alcohol taxes.

    --
    I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
  15. Here in Norway the case is already settled by Terje+Mathisen · · Score: 5, Informative

    EVs are simply inevitable, the only ting that have held them back (i.e."only" 29% of all new cars in 2016) here is the fact that most people prefers 4x4 station wagons for carrying stuff up to their winter cabins, and so far only Tesla have been able to provide more or less that, and at a price point which is more or less the same as a Volvo or BMW 4x4.

    As soon as you can buy a dual-motor (4x4) EV with reasonable range for under $50K, no more ICE cars will be sold here.

    My father was the Chairman of the largest EV importer in Norway for a number of years, so my family had various EVs as second cars, and I got intimately familiar with range anxiety from those. Based on that and the need for 4x4 I believed I had to wait for the Tesla Model X to be able to use an EV as our only car, but when they announced dual-motor versions of Model S I immediately decided to order one.

    In hindsight my only regret is that at least some of the extra perks EVs get here have to go away over the next few years, the tax people have to get their revenue some way which means that the toll roads will start charging us, parking won't be free any more and we'll probably lose general access to bus & taxi lanes.

    Terje
    PS. Since Norway is a net exporter of hydro-electric power, all EVs are really 100% pollution free here, in countries with lots of coal-fired power plants in the grid mix the case isn't quite so obvious but still better than the very best ICE cars.

    --
    "almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"
  16. Re:Amazing isn't it... by orzetto · · Score: 5, Informative

    I am an EV owner living in Norway, and we had this kind of problems in the news. The government is thinking of making it a requirement for condos to allow installation of charging stations.

    The argument of the recalcitrant condos was that old electric systems could not support charging all cars if all tenants switched to EVs, so they decided to forbid it outright for everybody, in order not to create a precedent. In my condo, for example, we have a standing rule that we cannot install a charger for more than 16 A each. Yet this point is moot, since it practically never happens that all cars are charging at the same time, and if it does is during the night. I charge my Leaf on average once a week (in our garage we also have a Tesla S, a Tesla X, a Kia Soul Electric and a VW E-golf out of 15 flats). The electric grid could just as well get overloaded if all tenants started their ovens, washing machines and heaters at the same time, and the worst that can happen is that the main switch trips.

    Also, having 32 A charging is nice to have the time you need it, but no one actually uses daily it if they can help it, because:

    • 10 A is more than enough for overnight charge, and higher currents degrade the battery faster
    • 32 A is a big share of each tenant's limit of 40 A, so you have to run the rest of the flat on 8 A (which must be enough for heating, cooking and so on)

    What I think is more challenging for the US is that a lot of people rent rather than buy, so they would be unwilling to buy their charging stations. I bought my own for about 1000 dollars (including cabling, B-type residual-current device and installation) and I consider an investment in the house, but people renting will not be willing to shell out that much money (though you can probably get away with 100 $ if you install a simple socket and use the onboard charger).

    --
    Victims of 9/11: <3000. Traffic in the US: >30,000/y
  17. Re:Amazing isn't it... by orzetto · · Score: 2

    Having experienced both (my own charger and fast chargers): you definitely want to use your own charger. Fast chargers are really expensive (about as expensive as gas by the km—European gas that is!), and their kWh price is about 10 times what you would get from your power company; the reason is that they pay high tariffs for kW rating (as opposed to kWh).

    Fast chargers are for people driving long distances once in a while who need to recharge their vehicle midway. If you use them regularly, you will not save anything on "fuel" compared to gas, plus your battery will degrade faster in the long run. If you can buy an EV, you should also have your own little (slow) charging station at home, and use it overnight as you main charging strategy: this will save you loads of money.

    --
    Victims of 9/11: <3000. Traffic in the US: >30,000/y
  18. Re:Here's when I'll buy by tehcyder · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm in a room with 12 developers, 24 screens (24 inch flat). SInce I have been here (4 years) only 2 have died.

    "Only" 2 out of 12 developers dead in 4 years? Are you in some Special Forces cyber unit?

    --
    To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  19. Re:electric cars look slippery, which is very cool by Rei · · Score: 2

    One may note that what the average person thinks "looks aerodynamic" often doesn't correspond to what actually is aerodynamic. The Saturn Sky sure "looks" aerodynamic (top up), but its drag coefficient is 0.42. The Dodge Viper is even worse, at 0.45, and the Ford Mustang ranges from 0.44-0.48. Meanwhile, the definitely not-sleek looking Ford Escape has a drag coefficient of 0.29. The SUV has a much larger cross-sectional area, of course, but that's beside the point -cross-sectional area is useful, but a high drag coefficient is not. Well, with one exception: a number of "sporty" cars get deliberately bad drag coefficients by being designed to create downforce (for an ideal streamlined shape you want no net lift); a Formula 1 car can have a drag coefficient of over 1.0, deliberately, in order to get as much downforce as possible to maximize its grip on the road. But for the most part, when a mass-market car has a bad drag coefficient, it's to play to people's style preferences, not for any functional reason.

    --
    We gotta go to a crappy town where I'm a hero.
  20. Re:Amazing isn't it... by orzetto · · Score: 2

    Condominiums are pretty common the world over, actually—Wiki is your friend.

    What is particular in Norway, is that we have two distinct types of condominiums:

    1. The Sameie, or "joint ownership", which is a condominium proper like anywhere else: everybody owns their flat and do what they want with it, and they pay a fee to maintain the jointly owned estate;
    2. The Borettslag, or "Right-to-reside company", which is more structured like a company in which you buy one share that grants you the right to use a flat (you don't own the flat formally, the company does).

    The first are usually common for larger and more expensive apartments, and for (almost) all free-standing houses. The second are exempt from the heavy taxes levied on acquisition of real estate (2.5%), since you are buying a share, not real estate, but require more administration since it's the company that formally owns the whole building. They are also more heavily regulated, for example there are strict limits to subletting, since their social purpose is to provide people a home they own and live in, as opposed to be a pure investment object.

    Most problems with EV chargers come with the Borettslag, because there you need to ask for permission for any major renovation you want to do (because formally it's not yours). In a Sameie things are usually easier, though you must handle them yourself.

    --
    Victims of 9/11: <3000. Traffic in the US: >30,000/y
  21. Re:just ban truck games. by aaarrrgggh · · Score: 2

    Maybe no advertisements, but they are spending a hell of a lot of money on marketing with flashy stores in the highest rent locations.