The global population growth and increasing demand for oil in emerging economies due to industrialisation drove up the demand for oil. As a result, we saw an increase in the prices of oil a couple of years ago, which further led to electric vehicles as an alternative. Hence, now the question arises, even after the decrease in oil prices, are electric cars the future of mobility; specifically sports cars?
Why wouldn’t electric cars be the future of mobility?
The biggest advantage for a car enthusiast is the fact that rather than accelerating the car at every single gear until it produces the maximum amount of torque. Tesla Model S, for instance, produces 687 lb.ft of torque at 0 RPM. No need to wait for the turbos to get started. In fact, the torque is right on the pedals when accelerated. If an electric car can produce more power or even the same amount of power, a car enthusiast eventually wouldn’t care if it were electric or petrol. We are also well aware of Volkswagen’s recent emission scandal. With electric cars, there will be no such thing as emissions.However, no gas or diesel in the system means no sound, which many car enthusiasts wouldn’t appreciate. Especially if you have anything above 300 horses inside the hood, you would want your car to remind that to everyone every time you rev. Also, charging electric vehicles is still an issue. For instance, the electric version of Mercedes SLS requires 20 hours of charging whereas; filling a tank in the petrol version of SLS AMG would take no more than 5 minutes.
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Let us now consider the perspective of some industry giants on the future of electric cars. Mr Sergio Marchionne, the current CEO of Ferrari, claimed electric cars to be “obscene”, therefore Ferrari will never make one. Really? Similarly, to what the Ferrari’s CEO said Maserati’s Boss Mr Harald Wester also said that they wouldn’t want to make an electric vehicle but will eventually have to. Both Ferrari and Maserati’s CEOs do not appreciate the idea of electric cars and the similar ideology. It is of no surprise as Ferrari and Maserati both have a history of working together. However, Mr Wester does accept that Maserati will eventually have no other option but to produce electric vehicles.
Contrary to what Ferrari’s and Maserati’s CEOs said, Porsche Chairman of Executive Board Mr Oliver Blume claimed in an interview, according to Porsche’s newsroom, that Porsche Mission-E is due to come out at the end of the decade, which is not too far. In fact, Mr Blume also mentioned that Tesla had set a new trend of electric cars, and Tesla deserves respect for this.
As much as I hate to say it, in my opinion, electric vehicles are the future of the automotive industry. Also, based on the perspective of the three industry giants, and the many benefits associated with electric cars, it will be wise to say that if not now, somewhere down the line all car manufacturers will have to adopt the necessary technology required for producing an electric car to stay competitive. However, the conversation on the trends of the auto industry just doesn’t end here. In fact, it will be interesting to see the effect of ride-sharing, autonomous driving cars and even passenger drones on the automobile industry soon.
