McKinsey: Electrifying cars: How three industries will evolve

http://newenergynews.blogspot.com/2009/08/mckinsey-looks-at-coming-ev-phenomenon.html

Monday, August 10, 2009
MCKINSEY LOOKS AT THE COMING EV PHENOMENON

Electrifying cars: How three industries will evolve; Upon entering the mainstream—in a few years or a couple of decades—electrified cars will transform the auto and utilities sectors and create a new battery industry. What will it take to win in a battery-powered age?
Russell Hensley, Stefan Knupfer and Dickon Pinner, June 2009 (McKinsey Quarterly)

SUMMARY
The battery electric vehicle (BEV) is the likely future of personal transportation. It may be years and it may be decades but, as a new paper from noted analyst McKinsey and Company concludes, it IS the future.

Those who think the future is still decades away believe cost will prevent widespread use. For about the next 10 years, the cost of BEVs, both fully electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), will be some several thousand dollars more costly than internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. This is due to (1) the expense of designing BEVs, (2) the expense of the battery, (3) bringing production up to mass scales and (4) allowing consumers to come around. Until costs go down and consumers come around, some believe, BEVs will not be a significant market factor.

Those who see BEVs coming sooner expect concerns with energy security, greenhouse gas emissions (GhGs) and car industry competitiveness to drive government interventions (subsidies, taxes and/or investments) that will spur growth.

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