Fewer than a million battery-electric cars were sold last year, but that number will exceed 70 million by 2032, says market research firm Information Trends in a new report.
With the amount of electric vehicles increasing so drastically in the next 14 years, developers of multifamily buildings will likely have to incorporate more battery-charging stations in their garages.
The report, Global Market for Battery-Electric Vehicles, focuses solely on battery-electric vehicles, as opposed to plug-in hybrids and fuel-cell vehicles, and indicates that battery-electric cars will make up almost half of all vehicles sold in 2032. Battery-electric cars are the fastest-growing segment of vehicles on the market, according to the report.
"We're witnessing a seismic shift in the auto market that parallels the mobile phone revolution,” said Naqi Jaffery, the report's lead author, in a press release. "While battery-electric vehicles are the short-term beneficiaries of the transition to clean energy, we'll eventually see widespread adoption of battery-electric/fuel-cell hybrid vehicles.”
The primary factor in the recent increase in electric-vehicle usage is government incentives and subsidies, notes Information Trends. But as the vehicles' popularity climbs, costs associated with them will decline considerably, making the incentives unnecessary.
Data from a 2016 Multifamily Executive article states that 15% of a surveyed 84,000 renters said they planned to buy an electric vehicle in the next five years. And of that 15%, a majority (58%) said they'd be willing to pay extra each month to have charging stations on-site.
In conjunction with electric cars, charging infrastructure is starting to be rapidly developed and will help foster the vehicles' adoption. Such infrastructure is equipped with fast-charging capabilities designed to significantly reduce present-day charging times.
