European car maker Volkswagen is keeping quiet on the Australian release dates for its electric vehicle series, ID, but it says that within 10 years, EVs will make up half of new car sales and an electric SUV will be the focus for the local market.
The German auto group, which plans make and sell 22 million electric vehicles globally by 2030, launching 70 new models in that period, released its first vehicle in the ID series – the ID3 hatchback – just weeks ago.
Its local office has said previously confirmed to The Driven that Australia is definitely on the list to introduce electric vehicles from 2021-2022, and the latest comments from Volkswagen Group Australia product marketing manager Jeff Shafer are in line with the proposed electric vehicle targets proposed by Labor in the run-up to May’s federal election.
“When we look five to 10 years into the future, instead of seeing a very small percentage of sales we will see electric vehicle sales grow steadily over time to maybe … 40 or 50 per cent of sales by 2030,” Shafer told Which Car.
Shafer believes that these figures can be reached even without targets such as that offered by Labor (and which was so ignominiously ridiculed by the incumbent Coalition government despite its own carbon abatement forecasts accounting for a 25-50% uptake by 2030).
These figures are considerably more optimistic than those put forward by a report conducted for the Australian Renewable Energy Agency by Energeia in May 2018, which suggests that with no government intervention, the percentage of car sales that are electric will only hit 20% by 2030.
Fuente: thedriven.io
