According to a new report from Pike Research, cumulative sales of plug-in hybrid and all-electric vehicles will surpass 1.4 million units in Asia Pacific during the period from 2010 to 2015.
In the Asia Pacific region, there are various national-level initiatives and programs to promote the awareness of electric vehicles. These programs include the establishment of aggressive goals, subsidies for EV purchasers, research and development support and demonstration projects, tax incentives, regulation and standardization, and public education programs.
Pike Research says that these initiatives will help fuel a burgeoning market for plug-in electric vehicles within the region.
Pike anticipates that China will be the largest Asia Pacific market for plug-in electric vehicles over the next five years, representing 53% of the region’s total sales during that period. The vast majority of China’s plug-in electric vehicles fleet will be pure electric vehicles, driven by a strong push behind this category by the central government. In contrast, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles will be the largest category in Japan, which is expected to be the region’s second-largest market for all plug-in electric vehicles.
According to Pike, significant barriers to plug-in electric vehicle uptake still exist in the form of consumer concerns about effective driving ranges as well as a near-term shortage of charging stations. The latter will be less of a problem over time as public, private, workplace, and residential charge points are installed in the coming years. By 2015, Pike expects that a total of 2.6 million EV charge points will be available to drivers across the region, outnumbering the vehicles themselves.
