A “mountain” of battery-electric automobiles coming into the market this yr seemingly will imply that 2021 would be the yr that EVs get away and begin grabbing bigger percentages of new-vehicle gross sales within the U.S., the CEO of Volkswagen of America predicts.
Scott Keogh, who led Audi’s launch of the E-tron in 2018 earlier than transferring to his present job as head of the VW model that yr, says the coming wave of EVs from automakers will translate to a shift amongst shoppers.
“I feel the development is big, and I do not use that phrase calmly. I feel [when] we glance again on 2021, for my part, this shall be kind of the yr EV broke,” just like the Beatles occurring “The Ed Sullivan Present” in 1964, Keogh mentioned. “That is going to be the yr.”
Keogh spoke with Automotive Information Writer Jason Stein throughout the Automotive Information Shift Mobility Discussion board, a part of this yr’s all-virtual CES know-how expo final week.
Keogh famous that EV gross sales grew in 2020 within the U.S., regardless of COVID-19 and the ensuing shutdowns, and regardless of an total market that dropped 14 %. Keogh mentioned VW’s projections for 2021 are for a 70 to 80 % enhance in EV gross sales within the U.S., to someplace “over 400,000, perhaps 500,000 models. It’ll transfer from being underneath almost 2 % of the market to over 3 % of the market.”
He mentioned automakers, together with VW, have a “mountain” of battery-electric automobiles heading for U.S. showrooms — together with the VW ID4 compact crossover that may arrive in U.S. dealerships starting in March. Because of all the new choices, shoppers who may need been inquisitive about EVs earlier than usually tend to think about them in opposition to a historically powered car.
EVs are “a cool client proposition” and have quite a bit to supply, Keogh mentioned. “They’re quiet, they’re quick, they’re tremendous loaded with know-how and in lots of regards, in the event you put them up in opposition to comparable [ICE-powered] vehicles, they’re spaceships.”
Long run, Keogh mentioned the EV market within the U.S. may develop to 22 to 25 % of all auto gross sales by 2030 from lower than 2 % in 2020.
“That is a whole lot of development, and that is solely 10 years away,” he mentioned, including that electrical propulsion is unlikely to utterly exchange inner combustion engine-powered automobiles, however it should proceed to eat into its dominant market share yr after yr.
“It will come as a result of pricing goes to get extra aggressive,” Keogh mentioned.
The ID4 will begin with a $41,190 sticker, together with delivery, when it goes on sale this spring. VW began consumer advertising for the ID4 this month. However much more essential than value is buy affirmation, Keogh mentioned.
“I do know all People are utterly individualistic,” he mentioned, “however the fact is, the extra you see another person within the automobile, the extra it results in a dialog. So that you choose up the youngsters at college, you go to the nation membership — not now, clearly — and naturally, you see the vehicles and that’s what will result in this tipping level” of broader adoption.