Growing plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) sales in 2017 raise outlook for aluminium demand

According to a report from Navigant Research, Global plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) sales hit 1 million units in 2017.

Sales revenues of such vehicles have increased by over 40% every year since the launch in 2011 and it is expected to maintain a 38% growth rate in 2020, the report said.

“Battery costs have dropped dramatically over the past five years and they will continue to go down with the commercialisation of solid-state batteries. In addition, regulatory pressure in Europe and China will further promote the development of plug-in electric vehicles no matter what happens to oil prices,” Navigant senior analyst Scott Shepard was quoted as saying.

Electric vehicles were getting all the highlights at 2017 Frankfurt IAA, the world’s largest motor show. Many premium brands announced their product range of hybrid and battery-powered vehicles. After Tesla’s announcement of Model 3, European automakers are increasingly favouring the development of EVs. This is good news for the aluminium industry as growth in EVs will be driving strong growth in demand of aluminium automobile parts and battery components.

Electric and Hybrid vehicle structures will without doubt be a major area of use for aluminium in the future. The first market-ready electric vehicles have shown that aluminium has very high growth possibilities within this segment as there are huge possibilities of using aluminium in thei spaceframes & structures.

The report also says that PEV’s expected strong growth in most parts of the world, especially in Europe and Asia, its prospect in the US is uncertain due to potential changes in the country’s fuel efficiency policy and government subsidies in the future.