Electric cars

Published: June 5 2009 09:27

More than 20 years after we scoffed at Clive Sinclair’s battery-powered tricycle, electric cars are gaining speed again.
Mitsubishi Motors said it would start to sell “the ultimate eco-car” next month; by 2020 it expects electric vehicles, plus hybrids, to make up one-fifth of its total production.

Even if Japanese groups lead the market, with China’s BYD close behind, this is a big punt from a little carmaker. It would take Mitsubishi ahead of Toyota Motor, which aims to launch its mass-market vehicle in 2012.
Early indications suggest there is no need to rush. Consumers’ biggest gripe is price. Mitsubishi’s car will sell for $46,000, twice the cost of a hybrid and three times the price of a comparable petrol-fuelled car.
Even Japanese incentives that halve the price do not seem enough to woo drivers. In Kanagawa prefecture, Japan’s most aggressive promoter of electric vehicles, most are unwilling to pay more than $12,000. As it is, Mitsubishi will lose money on every electric car its sells until production tops 30,000 a year.
Mr Sinclair would already know the other criticisms, including short battery life and low speeds – although the $102,000 Tesla roadster can hit 60mph in four seconds.
Nor is the infrastructure ready: even Japan has only a handful of plug-in charging stations. Chevrolet might have described its plug-in Volt as its most important vehicle under development, while the US and UK may want to encourage electric vehicle production locally.
Yet CSM Worldwide, a consultancy, reckons that only 100,000 electric cars will be made in 2015, about 0.1 per cent of total global production. Even to include hybrids gives only 3 per cent.
The green movement has gone mainstream since the Sinclair C5, helped by high oil prices. But, for now, paying to hum around town is no more popular than it was in 1985.
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Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009