2 November 2010 – eco-business.com
Leading automobile manufacturers yesterday urged governments to play a crucial role in revving the electric vehicle (EV) revolution set to grip cities across the world.
They are calling for monetary incentives or tax breaks to be given to consumers in order to encourage the adoption of EVs.
When EVs become commonplace, incentives can then be dropped – but costs of EV would have decreased by then to become more affordable, experts said yesterday at a panel discussion on sustainable mobility at the Clean Energy Expo Asia.
EVs, which run on electricity, are considered to be more environmentally-friendly than conventional cars that guzzle fossil fuels as its greenhouse gas emissions are lower and it addresses the issue of over-dependence on fossil fuels.
Consultancy firm McKinsey Co associate principal Rohit Razdan said it seemed the consensus amongst industry leaders was that the EV revolution was a matter of “when” not “if”.
He said EVs will penetrate at least 10 per cent of the global transport sector in the next 10 years. There are many challenges, however, such as consumer acceptance and building the infrastructure solutions for EVs, he added. Read more…
