Electromobility: Market of the future!

In Q3 of 2017, our headline stated "Electromobility: Hype or future market?" Today, 18 months later, we dare to answer with "Electromobility: Market of the future!"

We see steeply rising sales and dozens of new, attractive models coming onto the market from all well-known brands. "Range anxiety" is waning since the number of public charging points of various consortia are rapidly expanding - turn your head next time when refueling, to notice the progress. Of course, electromobility is a popular field for politicians who want to help do something good. With driving bans in cities, stricter emission standards, tax relief, etc., they want to catch the green zeitgeist at the ballot box. 

By the end of 2020, 30 new electric models are expected to hit the market.

The European automobile companies have ended their leisurely pace regarding electromobility. The Volkswagen Group's new strategy envisages a total investment of 44 billion euros in new technologies by 2023, of which no less than 30 billion euros will go into the area of electromobility. This amount represents almost a quarter of the total investment. By the end of 2020, 30 new electric models are expected to hit the market. The Volkswagen emissions scandal also euphemistically referred to as the "diesel issue", has visibly accelerated these far-reaching, fundamental changes in the group. 

Since 2015, sales of electric vehicles worldwide have more than quadrupled. More than half of the around 2 million vehicles have been registered in China, a market that has been heavily promoted due to rampant air pollution. Despite the steep growth curve, the market share of electric cars is only 2%. The popular German manufacturers, do not play a role in terms of volume. We think that the European brands are going to see high growth in the number of electric cars sold even if the global market growth should slow due to a cooling down in China.

Panasonic is one of the world's leading car battery manufacturers. Panasonic has recently announced that it will enter into a far-reaching joint venture with Toyota to jointly develop and produce large-capacity, low-cost electric car batteries from 2020 onwards. Panasonic is already a partner of Tesla's ?Gigafactory?. As one of the leading battery producers, Panasonic should benefit greatly from the dynamic growth in electromobility. 

Spotlight: The number of charging stations for electric cars in Switzerland increased from 1,400 to 5,200 from 2014 to 2018. The number of fast charging stations per 100 km of motorway climbed from 7 to 57 in the same period. Source: European Alternative Fuels Observatory eafo.eu

This is an excerpt from Carnot Capital's commentary published on the 4th of March 2019, of which the full version can be accessed here.