Blink Charging CEO Brendan Jones recently offered a positive outlook for the future of electric vehicles despite the recent lackluster consumer interest in battery-powered cars. Blink Charging is a company that focuses on building and operating EV charging stations around the world, where the CEO envisions a “bright future” for EVs moving forward.
However, if you were to read recent headlines pertaining to electric vehicles, you would gather a much different sentiment. Major auto manufacturers like Ford and GM have slashed their outlook for their respective EV offerings. For example, Ford is tapping the brakes on the production of its F-150 Lightning truck and pausing roughly $12 billion in EV investments. Additionally, Tesla, perhaps the pioneer of the modern EV, has indicated it will enact price cuts on its vehicles to address market trends.
Reports show that the growth of EV adoption has drastically tapered off in the past year. Global EV sales exploded between 2021 and 2022, growing 60 percent, whereas between 2022 and 2023, that figure plummeted to 34 percent. A key reason for this notable decline in EV adoption can be attributed to the unfavorable macroeconomic environment where high-interest rates are impacting consumer demand.
Electric vehicles are also considerably more expensive on average when compared to traditional gas-powered cars, pushing prospective car buyers toward the combustion engine. Especially in light of historically high inflation Americans have endured over the past couple of years, pricing has been cited as a key consideration for consumers.
While Jones acknowledged the current slowdown in EV demand, he provided a positive view of the industry’s future. “Is it as fast as we need it to be in the United States? No, it’s not,” Jones said. “But over time, we still feel bullish about the industry.”
Jones also touched on legislative efforts in California, mandating that all new cars sold in the state will have to be electric by 2035. Approximately 17 other states across the country have also agreed to adopt all or part of this regulation. The Blink Charging CEO claimed this will cause automakers to increase their EV production while downsizing their existing gas-powered offerings to comply with the rule. “The reality is that the transition is going to come,” Jones said. “So when you start to add it up, that’s a very bright future for this country.”
Jones further addressed hesitancy regarding the accessibility of charging infrastructure. The CEO explained that while there needs to be a sufficient level of public chargers to ease the public’s concerns, having reliable at-home chargers so they can start every day with a full charge is paramount. “You still need a lot of public infrastructure and you need it to be visible,” he said. “They may never use that charger, because they’re gonna go home to their garage and charge, but they know it’s there.”
“Everything is very achievable. We’re getting scale and we’re getting to the point with vertical integration, we can bring our products to market cheaper and more efficiently than other companies can,” Jones said. “We’re not middlemen. And that starts to feed off itself.”
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