Auto executives are losing faith in the electric car revolution as it’s developing in America.
A new survey from KPMG of 900 industry executives found that respondents believe only 37% of new vehicle sales in the U.S. will be electric by 2030 – that’s a stark drop from the 2021 survey that showed them expecting 62% of car sales would be EVs by the end of this decade.
This comes at a time when a range of different states, including California, New York and Colorado, are banning or phasing out gas-powered cars by 2035 and the Biden administration has targeted EVs to make up half all cars sold in the U.S. by 2030.
There are number of different hurdles facing the industry – some of which have gotten worse since the last survey.
Auto executives are losing faith in the electric car revolution as it’s developing in America. Tesla (above) continues to be the dominant player in the space
Globally, battery prices have continued to rise and supply chain issues that were exacerbated by Covid lockdowns in Asia have played into that.
Electric vehicles still cost almost $20,000 more than traditional gas vehicles, with the average EV hitting $65,041 last month according to Kelley Blue Book.
KPMG claimed that the new survey results show expectations around EVs are coming back down to more realistic levels in the face of production issues and cost hurdles.
‘There’s still a sense of optimism long term, and yet, most importantly, there’s a sense of realism in the near term. You see this realism throughout the entire survey,’ Gary Silberg, KPMG global head of automotive, told CNBC.
Earlier this year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk bemoaned the supply chain issues that he said were causing his American factories to quickly lose ‘billions’ of dollars – he called them ‘gigantic money furnaces’ – because he could not scale up production fast enough due to a lack of batteries and related parts.
‘You can be long-term optimistic, but near term, you’ve got to be very realistic,’ Silberg said. ‘It’s not rainbows and butterflies and euphoria anymore, it’s game on.’
Most of the executives who took part in the survey believe that Tesla will continue to be the dominant player in the EV space worldwide.
However, they also said that Apple will likely become a leader in the space by 2030 as well. The company led by CEO Tim Cook was in fourth place with 133 votes – below Musk’s company, Audi and BMW.
That’s unsurprising, given that a survey of consumers showed 26% of them would consider buying an Apple EV – despite the fact that none exists at the moment. Only Toyota and Honda ranked higher on the brand consideration question, at 38 percent and 32 percent, with Tesla taking 20 percent.
Apple’s car ambitions have faced numerous delays and were recently scaled back: The long-rumored car, now slated for no sooner than 2026, will not be fully self-driving and could cost up to $100,000.
The project has experienced a number of executive shakeups over the course of the project’s life, which may have caused the delays.
It will be powered by machine learning and AI, containing some of Apple’s most powerful chips used in its high-end Macs.
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Auto executives also said that Apple (a concept of their EV is above) will likely become a leader in the space by 2030 as well. The company led by CEO Tim Cook was in fourth place with 133 votes – below Musk’s company, Audi and BMW
‘There’s still a sense of optimism long term, and yet, most importantly, there’s a sense of realism in the near term. You see this realism throughout the entire survey,’ Gary Silberg, KPMG global head of automotive, told CNBC
