Long, extended road trips in electric vehicles will soon be common, and not the exception.
Tag: Iceland
Electric vehicle sales in the United States is an interesting subject. Despite having well over 200 million licensed drivers, the number of those drivers that purchase electric vehicles is well below that of many countries worldwide. And while the United States did see a sharp increase in electric-vehicle registrations at the start of 2022, bringing EV share of the overall market up to a historic 4.6%, electric vehicles still account for a small portion overall compared with the rest of the world, which reached an 11% share in 2o22—and is light years behind the numbers that European countries such as Norway and Iceland put up. Electric vehicles comprise almost 80 percent of new vehicle sales in Norway, and in Iceland the number is a still respectable 60 percent.
The automobile market varies greatly from place to place within the U.S. itself. Californians buy more EVs than drivers in any other state, which also extends to plug-in hybrid and hybrid sales numbers. Market share for electric vehicles tends to be strongest in metropolitan areas, but the numbers drop sharply in less densely populated rural areas.
The Glasgow Declaration on Zero Emission Cars and Vans, announced at the COP26 climate summit, includes a commitment to “work towards all sales of new cars and vans being zero emission globally by 2040, and by no later than 2035 in leading markets”.
Ford, General Motors, Geely-owned Volvo, Daimler-owned Mercedes-Benz, BYD, and Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover all signed the commitment.
Major automakers notably absent include Toyota (unsurprisingly*), Volkswagen, BMW, Renault, Hyundai, Honda, Nissan, and Stellantis.
Toyota Motors is the third most obstructive company in the world, actively lobbying against national climate policies. They are third behind gas and oil giants ExxonMobile and Chevron.
Chinese-owned Sweden-based Volvo has already committed to going fully electric by 2030.
Countries that did sign the declaration include » Austria, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Lithuania, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, Slovenia, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and Uruguay.
Major auto producing countries notably absent include » China, Germany, Japan, and the United States.
Canadian provinces of British Columbia, and Quebec also committed.