COVID-19 brings EVs to mind
While we are, on a global scale, slow adopters when it comes to buying electric vehicles (EVs) there are signs that COVID-19, and its wide-reaching impact on our lives, has us thinking more seriously about them.
According to a recent report from the Electric Vehicle Council, State of Electric Vehicles, sales of EVs have been relatively booming – while sales of conventional vehicles have dropped.
2019 was a bumper year for EV sales in Australia, tripling the numbers of the previous year with 6718 sales.
This year is on track to better that impressive feat, with 3226 vehicles sold in the first half of 2020. That’s a great figure, particularly with petrol and diesel car sales down more than 20 percent nationally.
We know COVID-nervous Melbournians are hesitant to get back on congested trains, trams and buses, and time at home has naturally led them to reflect on how they travel and use energy.
Either way, Australia as a whole has a lot of ground to make up – we trail behind in the global uptake, with less than one percent of EVs making up national annual vehicle sales.
Despite this, personal mobility is still seen as optimum. This will ensure vehicle sales well into the future. The only question is, what type of vehicle?
When it comes to EVs, it’s not a matter of if, but when. On that score, time will tell.
Words: VACC CEO, Geoff Gwilym. As featured in the Herald Sun 6 November 2020.