The popularity of electric vehicles (EV) is picking up speed on the back of Brent crude topping four-year-high prices and a planet in desperate need of cleaner air.
As the oil price hovered around $85 a barrel at the close of business last week, and amid much speculation that US sanction pressure on Iran could push supply-related price pressures to triple figures, EVs are reportedly slotting spiked-up sales worldwide.
And Tesla, no longer the market kingpin for electric cars, has noted traditional luxury brands and legacy auto manufacturers honing in on its turf, with 216 EV models currently available globally.
Initial infrastructural impediments also seem to have been largely solved, with Shell and BP indicating they are making substantial progress with adapting existing environments to accommodate EV charge-ups.
In South Africa, Jaguar early in October drove its electric SUV, the I-PACE, from Johannesburg to Durban using its Powerway charging network.
The Jaguar Powerway recharging network, which is being rolled out in partnership with GridCars, will feature 82 public charging stations for all electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids in the country’s major hubs and along frequently travelled motorways between the country’s major cities, according to the company.
Furthermore, the cost of battery packs for pure EVs and plug-in hybrids is dropping, and industry analysts are predicting price parity between electrics and internal combustion engines (ICE) by 2027.
Speaking at last week’s Paris Motor Show, Carlos Ghosn, chairman of Renault and Nissan Motor, said “the higher the price of oil the more tailwind we’re going to have behind electric cars.”
Meanwhile the UN has added some puff to the tailwind after its Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said that lowered carbon emissions could keep the planet steady on current daily levels, said to increase by 1.5 degrees Celsius after 2030.
Earlier IPCC warnings had that figure at 2.7 Celsius, an alarming increase that could trigger a planetary backlash of cataclysmic proportions, the UN warned.
