Industry Executives Skeptical on Electric Vehicles

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney isn’t the only one that’s skeptical about electric vehicles and their development. At an industry panel in New York, executives expressed their criticisms of the electric vehicle market as automakers have quietly shelved strong pushes towards developing EVs.

Recently, A123 Systems filed for bankruptcy – the same company that provides the batteries for the Chevrolet Volt and Fisker Karma models. And despite reports that the EV market is expected to grow 43 percent by 2015 in America, automakers such as Audi have gone back to the drawing boards with their EV initiatives.

Delphi CEO Rodney O’Neal expressed his pessimism on electric vehicles and battery technology, while Borg Warner CEO Tim Manganello believes that EVs are “not ready for primetime.” Electric vehicles, though in their infant stage of development, still have short ranges, long recharge times, expensive prices and high battery costs.

Executives from Daimler and Volkswagen shared similar sentiments, though they believe that electric vehicles do play a role in the automotive marketplace. Jonathan Browning, head of VW America’s operations expects that EVs will only account for less than three percent of global new vehicle sales by 2018.

One of the biggest hurdles the EV market has to get over is its costs in developing the vehicles – largely the battery technology. Some industry executives, including Delphi’s O’Neal, are hesitant to believe that battery technology will get better in the immediate future.

[Source: Car and Driver]