The car market slowdown due to the pandemic will not hamper the push to reduce emissions and electrify vehicle fleets – and it could be beneficial to smaller, more agile companies. That’s the view of Peter Rawlinson, CEO and CTO of American EV start-up Lucid Motors.
Speaking at the Financial Times ‘Future of the Car’ virtual conference, Rawlinson – a British engineer who previously headed up the technical development of the Tesla Model S – said it is “heartening” to see the environmental benefits resulting from globally enforced lockdown measures.
“We’ve seen bluer skies, we’ve seen clearer waters, we’ve seen a lot less noise pollution, and that’s beneficial,” Rawlinson said.
“But still, a lot of people are not buying [EVs] for the environmental credentials of those cars, although they are undeniable. They’re buying those cars because there’s a recognition that electric cars are inherently superior, and a nicer thing to experience.”
That sentiment was agreed with by the president of British EV start-up Arrival, Avinash Rugoobur, who said that although “a lot of capital outlay in general has been shifted” during the pandemic, there is still the necessary demand to electrify commercial and public transport fleets.
Rugoobur said: “Covid has shown that the need to transport rapidly [and cleanly] is increasing. Vans in particular have continued to grow in appetite. In California, for example, they are mandating that all new commercial vehicles will have to be electric. You’re seeing a real push from a lot of fleet operators trying to get ahead of that. Come a second wave [of Covid-19], deliveries are going to become a critical part of how we operate.”
Arrival took 10,000 orders of its electric delivery vans from logistics firm UPS earlier this year. The option remains for UPS to order a further 10,000 vans. Meanwhile, British Gas recently confirmed the UK’s largest EV commercial fleet deal with Vauxhall for 1000 Vivaro-e electric vans.
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Legacy automakers should be worried
There are some wise words in this article from the people who know. Legacy automakers are too slow to embrace new EV tech and these companies could experience serious problems in the near future.
The fact that Arrival has achieved 10,000 orders from UPS and Rivian has achieved 100,000 orders from Amazon is a clear indication of the direction of travel.
Those are all sales that the legacy automakers have already lost. Next year there will be more, and so on.The motoring press has also been historically slow to understand the significance of Toyota Hybrids, Tesla and now other new technology, so it is good to see this kind of article appearing now. It took the FT to kick-start the conversation in this case, however!