Despite relatively low gasoline prices in the United States, automakers have been bullish on electric vehicles to begin building green vehicle credentials that will carry them into the future. Nowhere is that more evident than with General Motors and the push to produce the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV.
The Bolt EV will reach dealers by the end of 2016, but Opel and its Bolt EV twin, the 2017 Ampera-e, plans a 2017 launch time. Green Car Reports has stated Opel specifically has high hopes for the EV market, predicting 10 to 15 percent of new cars sold will be EVs by 2030.
“We are convinced that electrification is the future,” Ralph Hannappel—manager of electrification at Opel, said. On one hand, that figure seems very low, especially with how much investment is going into electrifying vehicles today. On the other hand, that figure also seems quite ambitious, as it would pull a major chunk of vehicle sales in a much smaller market than, say, China or the United States.
In related news, Opel has not yet made a final decision on if it will support a collaborative effort to install 400 fast charging stations across Europe by 2020. The infrastructure movement has seen support from BMW, Ford, Daimler and Volkswagen Group.
Comments
So why if Electricfication is going to be so important and Opel making these predictions will Gm’s largest market in Europe (UK ) not even get the Ampera E – strange one that leaves GM trailing behind others who are prepared to engineer for the UK when this appears to be such a decent product and game changer….
If the Chevy Bolt EV and the Open Ampera-e sells well for the first year (2017), maybe Opel and GM will be convinced to develop a right-hand drive version for the United Kingdom, Japan, and other nations that require such a difference.