At a recent Bloomberg New Energy Finance event in Munich, the focus of the discussions was appropriately on the automobile sector, with representatives from the German manufactures speaking openly about their future plans and the $140 billion plus being committed to manufacturing electric and plug-in hybrid cars (Source: @BloombergNEF).

Using the data from the recently published Electric Vehicle Outlook 2019, that is that 2 million Electric and hybrid vehicles were added in 2018, BNEF suggests that by 2040, the share of BEV and PHEV in the global fleet will amount to over 37%. This raises some questions for both the manufacturers, and the buyers.

For example, given that the average car travels 30 KM a day, should we be suffering from range anxiety? And doesn’t the use of series hybrids, which can operate efficiently on both an electric and internal combustion engine, not negate that issue? Furthermore, should we be focusing on individual car ownership, or are the majority of electric cars going to be owned by the likes of Uber and Lyft and therefore, is it likely that these companies will in the future be building out their own charging infrastructure?

The changing landscape suggests there are huge opportunities, but like with the electricity market and the ‘on-flux’ of renewables, the business as usual model of manufacturers selling their wares directly to individual customers will need to be adapted. They will need to embrace fleets, shared ownership, and more urban business models. This presents both opportunities and challenges and will require a host of new partnerships, platforms and service agreements. Let us hope the automobile manufactures are coming at this new time with an open mind, as they clearly were during the discussions in Munich.