The future of the car is for electric mobility. No one doubted it. Only, consumers are not there. Today, the manufacturers, one after the other, moderate their decarbonation objectives. And the turpitudes of the American administration come to blur this objective more, which, still yesterday, seemed clearly clear.
The commitment made by many automotive companies to offer only electric vehicles by 2030 now appears to be unattainable. Already, the companies General Motors, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Volvo repel the deadlines they had themselves established. The most frequently invoked reasons: low demand (global), profitability, withdrawal of government financial aid.
For the consumer, the culprit is all found: electric vehicles are too expensive.
If it is true that the gap between the price of electric cars and the purchasing power of households is obvious, the same goes for vehicles with a thermal engine. The automobile is in the process of becoming again, as at the beginning of the last century, a luxury product.
Who is the fault?
So far, the commercial fate of an electric vehicle depends closely on the purchase subsidies granted to it. Little by little, all over the world, these financial aids disappear and lead to registrations of electric vehicles in their fall.
That said, the public authorities do not bear all the blame. Manufacturers also have a share of responsibilities. The vast majority of the new features presented in recent years mainly targeted the high -end, rather than the models at more popular prices. A strategic decision due in particular to costs (the battery represents a third of the vehicle price, we like to recall), argue the manufacturers. But these have already invested a lot and it would be illusory to believe that they will backtrack, even if the American administration follows its project to soften its environmental standards.
The manufacturers are not fooled. There will be a return of the pendulum. The Trump era gives them just a little more time, which they demanded ironically from the start.
In the coming months, manufacturers have already indicated that more popular electric vehicles will flourish on the floor of their concessions. This is particularly the case with KIA (EV3 and EV4) and Chevrolet (Bolt) which, inevitably, will lead to other competitors in their wake. The development of batteries continues to make them both efficient and lighter. Recharge stations (public and at home) will multiply, reliable. So much progress that will also benefit the expected rechargeable hybrid vehicles and which will act as a compulsory passage between the thermal and the electric.
Even F1 wonders
Photo provided by Mercedes
The hybrid Formula 1 engines will be back next year.
A new regulatory era opens for Formula 1. and it will be more electrified. However, its leaders, like those in the automotive industry, wonder about the return of thermal engines, less complex and less expensive to produce.
Next year, hybrid Formula 1 engines will be back. With the difference that the two energy sources (petrol and electric) will be better distributed among themselves. The power of the internal combustion engine will go from 751 to 560 horsepower, while that of the electric propellant will leap from 120 kW (161 horsepower) to 350 (469 horsepower). The challenge is size, but dreamed of the engine manufacturers of Formula 1, who wanted technologies more easily transposable to the vehicles of Monsieur and Madame Tout-le-Monde.
In recent weeks, the president of the International Automobile Federation (FIA), Mohammed Ben Sulayem, has sowed the stir by declaring that he saw the return of V10 engines. These would be-environment obliges-fueled by a synthetic fuel (it will already be in the reservoirs of Formula 1 next year). A statement that did not seem to please Honda and Audi. Moreover, the latter publicly expressed her dissatisfaction in a press release. The German manufacturer wanted to recall that “the upcoming regulatory changes were a key factor in Audi's decision to enter Formula 1. For us, they must reflect the same technological advances that stimulate innovation in the design of our passenger cars”.
