Deloitte Consulting released a new study that says electric cars will only be between 2% and 5% of the market by 2020.
Deloitte’s forecast is in marked contrast to the more upbeat outlook by automakers and electric car advocates.
Deloitte said that car buying is mostly about brand, and that consumers don’t think of the Nissan or GM brands when they think about electric cars. The consulting firm’s survey finds that 17 percent of consumers would prefer to buy an electric car from Toyota, 15 percent from Honda and 12 percent from Ford. GM’s Chevrolet brand was fourth at 8 percent, and Nissan was ninth at 4 percent.
Deloitte says that Nissan and Chevy will have to spend more on marketing to educate the public about their electric cars, the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt.
Deloitte is expecting that advanced batteries powering electric cars would cost near $600 per kilowatt hour in 2014. That would be down from near $1,000 per kilowatt hour today.
[source: Reuters]
