Report: Global EV Production Outlook “Gloomy”

Electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles remain financially unappealing for carmakers in spite of improving technology and lower costs.

So says a quarterly assessment of the global market by Roland Berger Strategy Consultants and Forschungsgesellschaft Kraftfahrwesen mbH Aachen (FKA).

The pessimistic report, which tracks the world's seven largest EV markets, says growth is being hampered by high ownership costs, lingering lithium-ion battery safety issues, a lack of charging infrastructure and fading government subsidies for EV customers.

Roland Berger and FKA describe the American market as becoming less competitive because of high vehicle prices and waning sales.

The report cautions that the limited range of EVs is a problem unlikely to improve until more efficient batteries become available sometime after 2020. But they also note that public subsidies for EV research are shrinking in all major markets except China.

The analysis describes Japan as the leader in terms of EV production and battery cell output. It predicts the country will produce 283,000 EV and hybrid vehicles between now and 2015. But the report says South Korea is quickly gaining ground in production and already leads in EV technology.

The study says those two countries will dominate global output of EV battery cells, producing a combined 11.2 GWh of storage capacity per year by 2015.