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.

Comments

Need to get cooler looking electric cars

[mykepredko]

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.

Re:Need to get cooler looking electric cars

[MightyMartian]

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?"

Re:Need to get cooler looking electric cars

[Jeremi]

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.

Re:Need to get cooler looking electric cars

[DirkDaring]

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

Re:Amazing isn't it...

[MightyMartian]

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.

Obligatory Responses

[CohibaVancouver]

- 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!]

Re:Obligatory Responses

[mark-t]

[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.

Re:Obligatory Responses

[Smidge204]

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=

Re:Amazing isn't it...

[swillden]

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.

Re:Why do Electric Car makers not make EVs that...

[Jeremi]

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

Here in Norway the case is already settled

[Terje Mathisen]

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.

Re:Amazing isn't it...

[orzetto]

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).

Re:Here's when I'll buy

[tehcyder]

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?