Volvo announced in February that, starting in 2030, it will only sell electric cars and that it will also eliminate dealers to deal directly and online. According to Henrik Green[1], «There is no long-term future for cars with an internal combustion engine«.
Could it be that combustion engine car technology has reached a tipping point?
It wouldn’t be weird.
Our generation has already witnessed several breaking points. We can mention music on CD, which, in the 2000s, had its fall with the appearance of the iPod, a storage device that, in turn, in the following decade, had to give way to platforms such as Spotify or Deezer.
Cable television, which, at present, is giving way to streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney Plus.
Will we then move to a new state where electric vehicles are standard?
More and more car companies want to modernize to mass-produce electric cars in response to the pressure that some governments are exerting, aware of the progressive deterioration of the environment.
It is no secret the planet needs our help.
Products, services and experiences that help alleviate pain, generate profits or facilitate user tasks[2], provide them with a superior experience (UX) and are better marketed than the previous ones, at some point end being the new standard.
And this has been throughout history. If we do a brief review we can see how we went from fuel lighting to the electric light bulb, from horses to cars, from cars to airplanes and from sailboats to boats with a combustion engine.
And now, in fact, we see what the turn is like for cars with combustion engines.
Tesla Motors has played a fundamental role in this transition: it builds electric cars en masse, and globally, it has a memorable user experience, its design is incredible, and as if that were not enough, they have an absolute rockstar as their frontman, nothing more and nothing less than Elon Musk, who has little to envy Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates or Thomas Alva Edison himself. Not surprisingly, in 2020 Tesla was worth more than Toyota, Honda, or BMW.
Some other reasons are helping the tipping point:
- People are pressuring Governments to stop using fossil fuels.
- The global entry of Chinese players such as Geely or Byd and prominent players such as Volkswagen, Volvo, or Toyota.
- For many people it is important to help the planet and be respectful of the environment.
The transition is imminent; it is only a matter of time
Final thoughts
I project this transition for the 2030s in developed countries and the main cities of Latin America.
And I clarify that I am not ensuring that electric cars will be the majority, only that they will be more present in our daily lives.
I am sure that electric cars will be the new object of desire for car lovers. As a result, we will buy them en masse, be it for environmental conscience or for fashion, but we will embrace it.
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[1] Chief Technology Officer of Volvo
[2] I invite you to read my article The value generation triangle
The cover image was taken from: Infographic vector created by vectorjuice – www.freepik.com
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