Getting from Point A to Point B is a basic need of human society. More than a century after widespread adoption of the internal combustion engine, today’s challenge is to move people and products while sparing the atmosphere from greenhouse gas pollution.
Three quarters of emissions in the transportation sector come from tailpipes. The good news is that EV adoption is on track for net zero and on the verge of hockey stick growth. Electric cars now account for more than 25 percent of global new car sales, up from 14 percent in 2022. In China, they command more than half the market. With combustion car sales continuing to slide, we appear to be at an inflection point.
In the U.S., EVs are still inching uphill to achieve mass adoption. Barriers persist in pricing and public availability of fast chargers. The end of federal tax incentives sparked a pullback–and several multi-billion-dollar writedowns–by major carmakers. On the other hand, instability in the Middle East and volatile gasoline prices could lead manufacturers and consumers to revisit their options.
EVs’ exponential growth curve points to a future where we can retire the huge global combustion fleet. To underline the scale and urgency of this challenge, we’ve shifted the focus of this Objective from sales to the volume of no-carbon (or low-carbon) vehicles on the road. To hit our interim target for net zero global emissions, we’ll need hundreds of millions of new EVs and trucks. In short, we’ll have to build our way out of this problem, and fast. As battery costs continue to drop and charging technology keeps improving, worldwide EV adoption may be closer than that object in your passenger mirror.