EY: Slowdown in Electric Car Market Only Temporary

EY, one of the world's leading providers of audit, tax, legal, strategy, transaction and business advisory services, has forecast a slowdown in global demand for pure electric, hybrid and plug-in vehicles (EVs) this year, but the firm's leading partner in its automotive industry group says the slowdown is expected to be temporary and manufacturers could soon be ramping up capacity again.

EY told MTI that compared to the spectacular rise in recent years, this year has seen a more modest increase in global demand for EVs: while the proportion of consumers planning to buy this type of car jumped from 30% to 55% between 2020 and 2023, this year the figures show an increase of just 3 percentage points.

Their international survey of 19,000 consumers in 28 countries found that 27% of respondents are most hesitant because of a lack of charging infrastructure, while a quarter are concerned about range.

Fears about the high cost of replacing batteries are also reflected in the survey data for the first time, with 26% of potential buyers citing this risk.

They went on to say that high fuel prices would continue to be the main driver for consumers to buy an e-car in 2024, with more than a third of survey respondents citing this as the most important reason. Meanwhile, environmental considerations have proportionally taken a back seat, with almost half of respondents citing environmental considerations as a motivating factor in 2021, compared to only a third this year, they added.