In an interview that BFM The Business Station conducted yesterday morning with Detroit Electric CEO Mr Albert Lam, he believes electric cars will go mainstream within the next 5 years although major industry players are not that optimistic. He believes smaller startups or new players will have a crucial role to play in hastening the transition from traditional engine based cars to electric cars. The reason being is that current automotive industry giants are too deeply invested in traditional engines that they are unable to switch quicker to new electric power plants without incurring huge losses due to engine development cost. He said that it generally cost USD 1 Billion to develop a new engine and such costs are recovered over a period of time. The technology is available today and if sufficient investments are made, it is very possible for electric vehicles to gain a solid market share.
Detroit Electric has partnered with Proton in 2009 to start develop & manufacturing electrical cars for mass market within the next couple of years and Mr Albert Lam believes they could be the game changer in the industry. China is making a big push towards EV as the goverment expects 10% of cars on the road to be zero emmission vehicles by 2015.
I am hopeful that we will see more EVs on the road very soon and with the right incentives in place, manufacturers and consumers can make the switch very quickly. Remember how quickly we switched from film cameras to digital cameras ?
