Electric Vehicles are certainly having a moment. Leading automobile manufacturers are planning fully electrified fleets for the coming years, and this hype has had momentum for quite some time. As we saw at this year’s Detroit Auto Show, the ‘Big Three’ automakers have several electrified options on the horizon, from SUVs to trucks to sedans.
Basically, EVs have been talked about plenty, and you’ll see charging stations dotting parking lots from coast to coast. But if you look at your circle of family, friends, and co-workers, you might find yourself asking one thing.
Where are all the EVs IRL? How many people do you know actually drive one?
With the rise in gas prices and widespread desire to come up with sustainable solutions to the climate crisis, it’s surprising that adoption hasn’t managed to scale up. (Let’s not forget a potential cybersecurity issue, either!) According to McKinsey, carbon emissions, design complexity, and battery development are barriers to broader adoption, but it doesn’t have to be this way.
A recent interview with Russell Hensley, co-leader of the McKinsey Center for Future Mobility in the Americas, on The McKinsey podcast helped shed light on the current state of EV adoption.
Here are 4 highlights from the episode:
On barriers to production
It’s quite complex to actually design, develop, and produce electric vehicles at scale when you have a vehicle fleet so dominated by the internal-combustion engine, and all the systems in the world for mobility have been indexed toward the internal-combustion engine.
On why drivers are not steering toward EVs
Adoption has not gone faster because there is a hesitation in pivoting from something that is so trustworthy in the internal-combustion engine to something that is a relatively new technology. And, with vehicles being the second-largest investment that a household makes, it’s obviously a decision that takes much consideration.
On the challenge and opportunity of batteries
The challenge when you put batteries into the automotive application is the magnitude of the battery. It’s a large energy storage device that will go through multiple cycles in its life, and it contains precious metals.
But it means ensuring that the chemistry is stable and ensuring that the battery can go through the multiple cycles of charging and discharging over the life of a vehicle. A typical vehicle will last 16 to 17 years in the US, so it’s a tall order.
On what EVs can do to mitigate sustainability obstacles
One critical step will be to ensure that we can reuse the materials that actually go into vehicles. The amount that you reuse or recycle—be that from the battery, from the vehicle body, from other elements of the vehicle—all needs to be maximized such that we reuse the materials as opposed to looking for new sources in the ground.
Get the full interview transcript and listen to the complete interview.
Related Reading: The future of EV manufacturing in Canada
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