Impact Community

The next three years Interest for zero emission vehicles is not limited to eco-aware Northern Europeans, as can be seen from this “Concept cars to flood the roads in three years” article in English daily of oil producing mini-state Qatar.

This article outlines the fuel efficiency plans of many automakers from the powerful Daimler-Mercedes to smaller independent manufacturers in North-America and Europe. It is clear that early adopters around the world can pay a hefty price for zero emission electric cars today or in the next year or two. It might also be good to keep in mind some German realism concerning production cost, or as described by VW CEO Martin Winterkorn “We are still a long way off from having the electric car for everybody that is affordable.”

VW says it is planning its first mass electric car in the Up! small car family in the next decade. Until then they will be presenting more traditional solutions for fuel efficiency such as the VW Golf TDI Hybrid with a consumption of 3.8 litres per 100 kilometres going on sale in 2010/2011.

The business research & consulting firm Frost & Sullivan announced during March that it estimates the electric and hybrid vehicle market to reach $2 billion by 2014. F&S expects the lithium-ion battery market to grow right along with it.