The new era of cheap oil could make a dent in hybrid and EV sales this year, experts admitted at the Advanced Automotive Battery Meeting in Mainz.
Battery Guru Menachem Anderman recalled a spike in hybrid sales in 2008-09 after a rise in gasoline prices in the US. The converse should also be true now with more choice and improved mileage performance in conventional vehicles, he said.
Michael Lord of Toyota gave a sanguine “we’ll have to see” reaction over sales but accepted numbers could well be down in 2015. EVs, PHEVS and HEVS still make less than 2% of all global vehicle sales with more than 60 models available from makers – the great majority of sales being hybrids. There will be a full report of AABC Europe 2015 in the Spring Issue of BEST magazine… why not subscribe now.
