It’s Plug-Ins Versus Pickups in Newest Culture Crash
Electric vehicle sales are on the rise all over the world. That doesn’t mean some traditionalists are taking it well.
Read the signs.
Photographer: Dania Maxwell/Bloomberg
2018 is shaping up to be a record year for electric vehicles. My Bloomberg NEF colleagues expect 1.9 million EVs will have been sold last year, up from 1.1 million the year before, with the bulk of those sales in Asia. Overall, China’s new passenger vehicle sales were in significant decline for the first time in more than 20 years.
Rapid growth requires the infrastructure to keep those electric vehicles charging on road trips, at offices or any time their owners aren’t plugging in at home. That infrastructure is being built in major auto markets — and some new behaviors are cropping up, too, as electric vehicle charging outlets are being built at retailers, apartment complexes and especially at gas stations.