The EV market has grown quickly over the years. In key markets, the transition from ICEs to electric powertrains reached a tipping point in 2019, fueled by more stringent emissions regulations, access restrictions in cities, and advancing EV technologies. In 2019, sales increased by 44 percent in Europe, the highest rate since 2016. What’s even more interesting, is that while Global auto sales plunged during the COVID-19 crisis, e-mobility has remained remarkably resilient in some countries.
With that being said, electrification is just one of the many ingredients to achieve transport’s decarbonisation. A 2018 report on global warming by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that there is simply no way we can sufficiently reduce the climate impact of transportation if we only change the way vehicles are fueled. So what should the right path to decarbonisation be?
Clearly, to achieve sustainability goals, communities should focus on moving people from private vehicles to shared transport, and not just on decarbonising private vehicles. Therefore, we should be working to ensure we’re combining journeys and sharing our mobility as much as possible. E-mobility can only be 100% sustainable if it’s optimised. However, this calls into question the charging problem. From September 2019 to January 2020, the number of public charging points in Italy increased by 29 percent (from 10,647 to 13,721). However, high power charging points are rare and the network is still patchy.
While there’s still some work to do about charging infrastructure, countries should also think well beyond switching out from fossil fuels to electric, in order to deliver the kind of decarbonization necessary to meet climate goals. They should start thinking about transport from a systemic perspective and also find a balanced urban mobility system that takes into account ecological issues without sacrificing citizen’s comfort.
To conclude: apart from being all-electric, future mobility should be shared, accessible and optimised! Would you be willing to sell your own vehicle and opt for greener, shared mobility alternatives? Let us know in the comments!
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