Hybrids, plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles will account
for about one in 16 new vehicles sold globally by the end of the decade,
consulting agency PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) says. The increase will come as
automakers reduce the price premium on advanced-powertrain vehicles and
governments invest more in charging infrastructure, PwC says.
Electrified-vehicle market share will reach 6.3 percent by
2020, PwC says, citing its 2012 poll of more than 200 people in 34 countries.
About half of those polled in PwC's Electric Vehicle Survey 2012 said
cost-savings (thanks to lower refueling costs) would ultimately be the deciding
factor in getting people to adopt advanced-powertrain vehicles, while $5,000
was generally considered to be an appropriate mark-up for an electric vehicle's
price relative to a similar gas-powered vehicle.
Last year, Americans bought about 450,000 electrified
vehicles, including almost 50,000 plug-in vehicles. With US light-duty vehicle
sales totaling about 14 million units last year, electrified vehicles had a
share of about 3.2 percent of new-car sales. Read PwC's press release below.