Plug in Vehicle Sales to top Five Million by 2017

Aug 24 2011

The latest industry forecast carried out by Pike Research shows that cumulative sales of plug-in electric cars will escalate beyond most people’s wildest dreams – reaching 5.2 million units by 2017.  Many people will find this almost unbelievable, taking into account that the figure for 2011 only stands at 114,000.

This number includes both battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids.  If we add the expected sales of hybrid electric cars, the total will amount to a staggering 13.9 million units.  Looking at it in another way, this means compound yearly growth of 19.5% for the next six years, compared to the meagre 3.7% that is being forecast for the vehicle market overall for this period.

Pike is convinced the market will grow to 1.3 million vehicles per year by 2017, by which time it will make up 1.4% of the worldwide light duty vehicle market.  The Asia Pacific region in particular is expected to show strong growth thanks to the strength of the Chinese and Japanese markets.

Point does, however, also expect that total penetration levels will remain relatively low if we look at them in the context of the size of the automotive industry.  The company says that hybrid and plug-in electric vehicles will make up only 3% of total sales by 2017.

The fact remains that many of us who rely on car finance for buying our vehicles still have some concerns about the long term cost of electric vehicles, their range and their reliability.
 

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