From 2016 to the end of Q2020 XNUMX, the number of electric cars in the world has almost quintupled, going from 1,5 to more than 7 million. Of these, more than three million are in China and almost two million in Europe, where Norway dominates the market, with 320 electric cars distributed among just 5 million inhabitants. Also in January-March this year, while total vehicle registrations in the EU recorded a sharp decline, electric and hybrid cars bucked the trend, posting growth of 81,7 and 49% respectively on an annual basis, for a total of 228.210 and 310.308 vehicles sold. As for theItaly, in the same period the sale of hybrid cars – almost half (48%) of the alternative fuel mobility market – exceeded that of gas cars (40,5%), traditionally more widespread in our country.
The numbers were illustrated on Tuesday during the presentation of the third edition of “100 Italian E-Mobility Stories 2020”, a publication edited by Enel e Symbola Foundation – for the first time in collaboration with fca – which recounts the experience of one hundred Made in Italy e-mobility excellences. And this is also a sign of the times: once on very distant positions on the future of electric mobility that Sergio Marchionne considered too expensive, today the trends have changed. And the positions have come close even if some distinctions remain.
“The growing concentration of the world population in very large metropolitan areas is calling for a rethinking of many lifestyles – he says Francesco Starace, CEO of Enel – This necessarily passes through sustainable mobility, public and private, which is not harmful to the environment and which announces itself overwhelmingly and increasingly clearly as electric”.
The coronavirus emergency, which has inflicted a heavy blow to the car market in the months of the lockdown, electric mobility did not spare; however, the Italian and European institutions have put the green new deal at the center of the economic recovery plans, therefore the crisis could turn into a development opportunity for the electric car market. Not surprisingly, an amendment to the relaunch decree introduces new incentives for the purchase of Euro 6 cars by 31 December 2020 (the bonus is equal to 3.500 euros for those who scrap a vehicle that is at least 10 years old, or half without scrapping) and reinforces those for hybrid and electric vehicles provided for by the 2019 Budget law.
In this scenario, too fca has overcome its initial misgivings about this market segment and has just presented the electric version of the 500, which represents a real turning point for the group's strategy. However, the difficulties are not lacking: “Electric cars must be conceived and inserted in a much wider ecosystem – he comments Pietro Gorlier, Coo of Fiat Chrysler – and in order for them to be accessible to all, a comprehensive system is needed made up of public and private recharging infrastructures, adequate energy costs, dedicated parking lots, simplified management of public land for the installation of columns, measures to support demand, as well as a redevelopment plan for the industrial chain".
