Electric Vehicles In 2012

Good article today on ZD Net about the next year in electric cars.

7 trends driving electric vehicles in 2012

As 2011 draws to a close, the environment for electric vehicle adoption remains positive — despite a dramatically altered political landscape, which could result in reduced federal financial support for pilots or individual purchases moving forward, and battery safety concerns raised by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), related to several post-crash fires caused by lithium-ion batteries.

Cleantech forecast firm Pike Research offers a pulse of the electric vehicle industry in its white paper, “Electric Vehicles: 10 Predictions for 2012.” Based on my reading of their paper, as well as my own gut take on technologies likely to emerge during the next 12 months, here are 7 trends I believe will drive the electric vehicle industry in 2012.

#1: Would-be buyers will have far more choices in 2012. Pike Research predicts that unit sales of plug-in electric vehicles will reach 257,000 units globally next year. The pioneering technologies found in the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf will be joined by models from BMW, Ford, Honda, Toyota and Volvo, as well as the newcomers Coda and Fisker. North America will account for about 66,000 of those unit sales, slightly more than for all of Europe but about half of what is predicted for the Asia/Pacific region.

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Where do you think electric vehicles are going in the coming year? Next ten years? Comment below with your thoughts.