Hyundai is planning to invest up to $40 billion over the next 5 years in new all electric models and autonomous driving technology. It will unveil an all new dedicated electric car platform in 2020 and expects to offer 44 electrified models by 2025.
A perfect storm is brewing above the automotive industry. Three hardly grasped phenomena are working together. Just like a real storm, when the conditions align in the best/worst way, we get a devastating superstorm. These phenomena (or events) are the Osborne effect of delayed demand, the technology (cost) curve of battery prices and other technology, and the S-curve that describes market acceptance of new technologies.
Just sayin’
Traditionally, January, along with February, are the two slowest months in the Chinese plug-in vehicle market, but tradition is not what it used to be. Even with disruption hitting the Chinese automotive market (the mainstream market was down 18% last month), plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) sales were up an amazing 175% year over year (YoY), to some 96,000 registrations.
We have other, much longer, much more detailed articles coming about this, and I have to recommend those over this one. But there’s also something useful about a short, simple message.
Plug-in hybrid or fully electric? There is no wrong or right answer. The only thing that matters is which one is right for you. Either will reduce your carbon footprint substantially.
The German plug-in passenger car market was up 17% to 6,767 registrations in January, with a seismic change happening in the fuels mix.
The French plug-in car market took home 4,210 registrations in January — +78% year over year (YoY). Fully electric models jumped 138%, their highest growth rate in over 2 years, while plug-in hybrids remained in the positive as well — +14%.
After reading fellow CleanTechnica writer Sebastian Blanco’s review of the Hyundai Kona EV, I knew I was in for a fun drive. I had no idea how much fun it would be, though. I walked away wondering how anyone could justify buying a daily gasoline driver when you can have a 258-mile electric crossover like this.
In our 2019 competition for the CleanTechnica Car of the Year, CleanTechnica staff lounging next to a rooftop pool on top of a luxury hotel (… or just sitting on our computers from the banal surroundings of our own homes …) came up with a list of the 5 new vehicles most likely to have a positive effect on society.
We then put that list of vehicles out in front of your eyeballs to choose a winner, via a simple one-question survey.
