Carmakers gearing up for mass market EVs

Thierry Koskas, head of French carmaker Renault's electric vehicle project, told the Reuters Global Autos Summit in Paris on Monday that electric vehicles would account for about 5 percent of the world car market by 2016.

Koskas reiterated a longer-term forecast by Renault Chief Executive Ghosn, who said EVs could account for one in 10 new car sales by 2020. Koskas said the ramp-up would be gradual: "Probably in 2016 it will be half of that."

But most other executives at the summit were less sanguine about the prospects for the electric car over the next decade. Ford Motor Corp's head of product development, Derrick Kuzak, said that by 2020, between 10 percent and 20 percent of the auto market will be hybrid, plug-in or electric vehicles.

Of that piece, a sliver of just 5 percent will be battery-electric vehicles, Kuzak said.
"Frankly, it's dependent upon whether there can be a next step in battery range technology that might change that number a bit," Kuzak told Reuters.

Electric vehicles are plugged into an electric outlet to charge the battery and there is no internal combustion engine.

Renault, with Japanese alliance partner Nissan Motor Co Ltd, is aggressively pushing electric vehicles -- the two partners are investing 4 billion euros together in such  cars.
But a range of questions remains as to the viability of pure electric vehicles, such as charging infrastructure and the lifespan of the car battery.

"We do see a market for EVs but their cost and convenience is still a large question," said Toyota Motor Corp U.S. brand sales chief Bob Carter at the summit in Los Angeles.