We could be looking at a tipping of the balance towards electric vehicles.
All new cars purchased in the UK must be emission-free by 2040 in a bid to improve air quality and there have been calls for that date to be brought forward. The SMMT reported 10,768 registrations of new electric vehicles during November 2018, including hybrids, plug-in hybrids and pure electric. This accounted for 7% of the market share. This is still well behind other European countries. In Norway, for example, electric vehicles account for 37% of sales.
According to zap-map.com, there are already more than 10k locations with charging points around th UK, so access to a charging point is easier than ever. Range is still an issue, but with the current rate of innovative development, in ten years’ time, the ideal range of 500k ought to be feasible, making switching to electric a much more attractive proposition.
Cars are like to become a key element of the Internet of Things.
Greater connectivity is bound to be a factor. With a move from 4G to 5G, as well as more and more people using smart home hub technology to control their home appliances, why not allow your phone to talk to your car? New technology could allow connected or ‘smart’ cars to link up with city infrastructures. This might mean, for example, that your car will know where the nearest empty parking space is located.
Driverless cars are likely to be just around the corner.
Research and development in driverless technolgoy is already well underway. In an interview with Decidedly.com, Andreas Strasser, Volvo’s Head of Research and Automotive Strategy claimed that 2021 will be the year autonomous driving will really come of age and when brands will start offering the technology to customers. That’s a mere two years away, so imagine where a decade could take us.