Where is the challenging road of EV ahead likely to lead next?

CGTN Europe

Mark Smyth, Automotive Journalist spoke to CGTN Europe.

Transcript

00:00year in the world of electric vehicles, the rapid growth of Chinese companies,

00:05expansion of battery technology and manufacturing, continuing trade row, of

00:10course, between China, the United States and Europe. Here in Europe, of course,

00:14governments still facing challenges, persuading us to buy EVs due to purchase

00:19costs and charging infrastructure limitations. So where next? Where will the

00:24market go in 2025? Mark Smith is an automotive journalist. Mark, welcome back.

00:29Good to see you. Well, get your crystal ball out. Where next for EVs in 2025?

00:35Good afternoon. Yes, 2025 is going to be an interesting one. I think we said that at

00:39the beginning of this year as well. They're already predicting that we'll see

00:44a constant increase in sales of electric vehicles, possibly to as much as 16%

00:49across the globe. But you mentioned Europe and we could see that number

00:54being significantly less, possibly as little as sort of 1% to 2% during the

00:58course of the year. Some of that is caused, as you say, by concerns over

01:03infrastructure. We have the tariff issues in the US. We'll see what happens when

01:09President-elect Trump comes in next week. And, of course, Europe also looking at

01:14tariff, imposing tariffs on Chinese-made vehicles. And that is very much the, not

01:21so much, well, I suppose the threat, really, for the legacy automakers across the

01:27world are the Chinese automakers and how they are making such significant

01:31inroads, either directly with their own brands or through mergers and

01:36acquisitions. Well, let's talk about those because just now, of course, we're

01:40watching the merger or perhaps the potential merger of Nissan and Honda.

01:45I mean, do you see more of this consolidation, more of these

01:48partnerships emerging to try and counter China's dominance in the EV market? And

01:53how straightforward are these shotgun marriages? Well, this particular one, the

02:01one between Nissan and Honda is not very straightforward at all because we have

02:05the Renault-Nissan alliance, which also includes, of course, Mitsubishi. Renault

02:11is the majority shareholder in Nissan and has been for quite some time forming

02:17that alliance and is assessing its options with regards to the whole thing.

02:22But at the same time, quietly sort of acknowledging that this might be a good

02:26move, creating ultimately in 2026 the third biggest automaker. It is, of course,

02:33the second biggest merger after PSA and Chrysler, Fiat Chrysler, a few years ago

02:40and could cost as much as 56 billion dollars to implement in 2026. But the

02:46chairman of Honda and other potential merger partners saying that it's very

02:53much to counter that threat of the Chinese automakers and get into the

02:58electric vehicle market even more so. Nissan, ironically, of course, is one of

03:02the frontrunners or the forerunners maybe in the electric vehicle market with

03:06its Nissan LEAF from the beginning of the last decade. But Honda has been very

03:12slow to get into the electric market and has essentially produced vehicles in

03:19order, let's say, to try and meet targets maybe or legislation in certain parts of

03:24the world. We're seeing the same with its Japanese compatriot, Mazda, and they

03:29really need to, if we are going to see this big expansion in electric vehicles,

03:34they need to up their game and they know it and this is how they plan to do it.

03:37Car bores like us, of course, get carried away with the twists and turns of the

03:41auto industry, but there's something else happening around the world, isn't

03:44there? And it's the anti-car movement. Cities globally becoming increasingly

03:51concerned about their environmental damage, but also there's something else

03:56going on. The cost and that whole generation of people finding that EVs

03:59and other cars are simply too expensive to buy and run. Is the industry concerned

04:05about this anti-car movement? Yes, the industry is understandably concerned

04:12and it's looking to government for assistance. In the UK, for example, of

04:16course, there is this review of the ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars

04:23and it has cost the car industry, both manufacturers and importers, millions

04:29during 2024 to discount electric vehicles in order to meet zero emission vehicle

04:34targets, which we could see also being changed in some of the years ahead.

04:40Micromobility is a big topic and in a few days' time we'll be seeing the big

04:45consumer electronics show in Las Vegas, CES, and we'll be seeing even more

04:49solutions to bring forward ideas for people in urban centers and cities

04:55around the world to help them with their sort of last mile getting around. Once

04:59you get off a train, how you get to your destination, how you, whether it's

05:03e-scooters, ride-sharing, or other forms of transportation, and cities are doing

05:09it, but the problem is a lot of cities are very old and their infrastructure is

05:13old and in order to upgrade to cope with some of the new and latest technology

05:18requires significant investment at a time when cost pressures are very high.

05:23Mark, good to see you. Thank you for that. Mark Smith, the automotive journalist,

05:26talking to us from Bristol.

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