China is likely to beat the US in the race to put electric vehicles on the road, according to a new report from global management consultancy firm Accenture.
The report, “The US and China: the race to disruptive transport technologies”, concludes that because of the strong government backing given to electric vehicles, China will deploy EVs faster than the US.
In June last year, Chinese authorities said that they would subsidize purchases of alternative energy vehicles in five cities, including Shanghai - no small undertaking given the explosion recently seen in the Chinese car market.
China will also be aided by its plentiful supply of lithium, a key component of EV batteries, and its current battery production capabilities, said the report’s authors.
The necessity of lithium for rechargeable batteries has sparked concern over its long-term supply, something that has prompted Japanese automaker Toyota to begin research into environmentally friendly-cars which don’t use precious minerals.
Accenture’s Melissa Stark noted that “the US does not have a blank piece of paper while China, in many ways, does,” adding that while America will depend almost entirely on lithium imports from Asia and Latin America, China’s vast reserves of lithium can support 450 million vehicles.
However, the report report wasn’t all gloomy reading for the US.
It suggested that the development of better engines, advanced biofuels and other green innovations was likely to cut the US’ consumption of gasoline up to 22 billion gallons per year by 2030, assuming Americans don’t change their mileage.
Unfortunately, the positive effects of green transportation in China won’t produce such dramatic results - even though alternative energy is planned to make up for 30 percent of transport fuels by 2020, car ownership is likely to triple in that time, meaning growth in both green and oil industries.
