Business
Germany: Buoyant EV market Despite Low Subsidies
The German market for electric vehicles is the most buoyant despite offering one of the lowest subsidy rates to consumers in Europe.
According to market data released by Jato Dynamics, nearly twice as many electric vehicles were registered in Germany in the first half of 2011 compared to the UK with 1,020 models snapped up in Germany compared to just 599 in the UK.
The new findings from the automotive data experts seems to suggest that incentives aren’t the important factor in driving consumer demand for electric vehicles; as demand in Denmark remains stubbornly low despite having the highest potential EV tax exclusions.
Although Denmark appears to be a haven for EVs in Europe with tax exclusions that potentially amount to €20,588 per vehicle; there were only 283 registrations in the first half of 2011, representing just 0.32 per cent of all vehicles registered in the country.
The picture in Great Britain seems better however, as our home country is compared with Spain where tax incentives are around the same level (€6,500 in Spain and the equivalent of €6,400 in GB). Despite a similar tax incentive rate, five times more electric vehicles sold here than in Spain (599 versus 122) in the same period.
The picture in Sweden is also impressive, and despite cold weather conditions to deal with, the country registered an almost identical volume as Spain (111) despite subsidies per vehicle amounting to just €470.
Across Europe, total EV registrations came to 5,222 in the first half of the year.
China Is Poised To Take The Lead In EV Race
Mr Ian Robertson, Board Member of BMW (Sales & Marketing), believes China could steal a march over other countries in electric cars.
“The Chinese Government is putting enormous money into R&D and academic institutions. Clearly, this could be a technological leapfrog they could benefit from. When the time comes, and it could be a relatively short period, Chinese regulations will advance this (electric car) agenda quicker than what could be perceived at the moment,” he told Business Line during the unveiling of the BMW i3 and i8 electric car concepts in Frankfurt recently.
“I think the issue of infrastructure is a bit of a red-herring. The ability to turn a power source into a delivery for electricity is not that difficult. It is a function of demand and there are plenty of companies which will rapidly respond to this need,” he said.In contrast, India is way behind even though a handful of manufacturers have been talking of electric vehicle options. Infrastructure, in terms of charging points, is often cited as the biggest limiting factor but Mr Robertson did not agree with this view.
Mr Robertson also referred to the experience of the BMW Mini E (the demonstration electric car and part of project ‘i’) where the 700-plus customers initially interviewed said they
wanted charging points at convenient locations such as supermarkets and gyms.
Even though a number of municipal charging points were provided, these were hardly used as people preferred their own cables at home for reasons of hygiene.
According to Mr Robertson, the next decade could see ‘greater volatility’ in the car industry than what has been experienced over the last 100 years in terms of more change in processes, technology and the way the industry behaves.
The global economic situation is also more challenging than what it has been to be able to predict what will happen. “The agenda for a car company, therefore, needs to be based on flexible response to the way customers behave, to what is happening on the global economic situation and to what governments are going to do,” he said.
China’s Five-Year EV Plan
The government of China is expected to adopt a plan later this year that foresees around a million plug-in vehicles and more than 2,300 charging stations by 2015. Recently the government representatives have announced that further incentives for the purchase of electric vehicles will be adoptedChina’s State Council is drafting a plan aimed at boosting electric vehicle production and purchase as well as development of infrastructure. Within the scope of its New Energy Vehicles programme, China plans to have a million electric vehicles (EVs) on the road in 4 years. The 12th Five-Year-Plan (2011-2015) also envisages a total of 2,351 charging stations and 220,000 outlets to be built by State Grid Corp of China, the major power supplier in China.
EV buyers to benefit from subsidies and lower taxes
Currently the central government offers subsidies of around 60,000 yuan (about $9,340 or €6,890) for the purchase of an EV in the pilot cities. In addition to this the local governments may grant an additional financial support. The Chinese policy-makers together with industry will not only maintain the subsidy policy in the new plan, but they will aim to augment them, thereby making the electric-powered vehicles more attractive for consumers. Moreover, Wang Wei, director of the tariff department at the ministry of finance indicated that the tax rate for EVs is also likely to be decreased.
In 2009, the Chinese government initiated a programme to stimulate the rollout of electric vehicles in 10 major cities focusing initially on deployment of EVs for government fleets. Since then the plan has spread to more then 15 other cities and also targets adoption of EVs for personal use.
China BAK Teams Up With HAITEC
China BAK Battery, Inc. a leading global manufacturer of lithium-based battery cells, today announced that the Company’s Shenzhen-based subsidiary entered into a strategic cooperation program for electric vehicle (”EV”) development with Hua-chuang Automobile Information Technical Center Co., Ltd. (”HAITEC”), a subsidiary of Yulon Group, Taiwan’s largest automaker.
In June 2011, China BAK’s Shenzhen facility supplied cylindrical battery cells to HAITEC to power Dongfeng-Yulon’s pure electric vehicles, which were delivered to the public transportation authority of the city of Hangzhou, China. Under the new strategic cooperation program, the Company and HAITEC will focus on developing EV battery packs and high capacity battery products. The battery cells manufactured for HAITEC under this program, a result of two years’ research and development by BAK Canada technical team, are cylindrical battery cells produced in the Company’s Shenzhen facility. HAITEC will cooperate with China BAK’s Shenzhen facility to benefit from the compatibility between its cylindrical cells’ material system and battery design advantages. At the same time, the Company intends to continue to develop its high-power lithium batteries for other EV opportunities at its Tianjin facility.
[Source & Read More: Market Watch ]
Benefitted from attending EV Li-ion Battery Forum
Here is an exclusive interview clip with Naveen Munjal, Managing Director of HERO ELECTRIC at the EV Li-ion Battery Forum 2009, talking about the delegates from the various electric vehicle lithium-ion value-chain that he has interacted with and how he has benefitted from attending the forum.
White House unveils $2.4 bn in grants
The US government will buy thousands of electric and hybrid vehicles. Government grants also would subsidize installation of electric-vehicle charging stations. The move reflects the belief that current lower oil prices won’t last: In its models for the future, as part of the GM and Chrysler bankruptcies, the president’s auto task force assumed that gas prices would rise above $4 a gallon by 2015.
Bosch JV to supply battery for BMW’s Megacity e-car
A joint venture between Bosch and Samsung SDI will supply Li-Ion battery cells for BMW’s Megacity project, an EV due in the first half of the next decade. BMW last week announced it would pull out of the F1 circuit at the end of this season, after management decided to focus its efforts on sustainability issues and reducing carbon emissions.
Nissan’s new Leaf: An EV and charging stations too
Recognizing that consumers won’t go for battery-powered vehicles if supplying them with juice isn’t cheap and convenient, the company is working with electric utilities, private organizations and all levels of government to set up networks of charging stations. The Leaf is expected to go on sale in the U.S., Europe and Japan late next year.
Vinod Khosla on why Li-Ion batteries are overhyped
Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems and an active cleantech investors, believes that lithium-ion batteries will be eventually replaced if costs do not go down or oil prices do not go up. But Khosla Ventures is still backing the technology because the “lithium-ion markets are here today and there are good markets.”
TH!NK and ENER1 launch new joint business stream
The first integrated EV drive-train of its kind has been developed by TH!NK (the pioneering Norwegian EV manufacturer), with EnerDel (the US-based lithium-ion battery subsidiary of ENER1) being the sole supplier of its industry-leading lithium-ion battery technology.
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