If humanity wants to not be burned to death by the ravages of global warming, then countries need to ramp up electric car manufacturing significantly.
According to a new study from the World Energy Council, one in six new cars sold must be electric in 2020 to meet emissions targets.
Multiple countries have emissions targets, but have yet to require manufacturers produce electric vehicles. These emissions targets will be impossible to meet on efficient internal-combustion engines alone, even with advancements in technology. A certain portion of a manufacturers’ production will need to be electric.
The study looks at the emissions targets set by the United States, Europe, and China. While accounting for improvements in fuel efficiency, it still concludes that 16 percent of cars will need to be electric. Each country has its own “EV gap” that needs to be filled with electric cars. The study estimates that 900,000 cars sold in the United States must be electric in 2020. That’s about 11 percent. China fares far worse; it needs to somehow sell 5.3 million new electric cars in 2020 — that’s 22 percent of estimated sales. Europe is in the middle at 1.4 million cars, or 10 percent.
The study also concludes that the biggest barriers to electric car adoption is still range anxiety. It’s the feeling you get when you know your phone is running out of power, but need GPS functionality to get home. You’ll lower screen brightness and put it on power-saver mode. That, too, applies to electric cars. When users see their miles grow low, many will turn off the AC and other nonessential features to keep their vehicles going.
The one bit of good news is that with the increased electric car production, it actually won’t strain electric infrastructures all that much. The demand of new electric cars in 2020 will only be 0.5 percent more than the 2014 electricity demand.
In the United States and Europe, nearly all major companies are investing in EV technology. It will be interesting to see what China will do to keep pace.
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.