Electric, gas vehicles need cost-efficient measures

The high purchase prices of electric vehicles and challenges of charging in housing companies are currently slowing down the development of the electric vehicle market and public charging infrastructure and the natural growth of the electric vehicle base, according to a government assessment.

A cost-efficient way to accelerate the market would be to introduce more electric vehicles to the vehicle base, but this will require effective promotion measures in the next few years, said a government press release.

The goal set a year ago in the national energy and climate strategy, 250,000 electric vehicles or plug-in hybrids and 50,000 gas vehicles by 2030, seems possible to reach even with the current measures, according to the recently completed “Sähkö- ja kaasuautojen kustannustehokkaat edistämistoimet - GASELLI” (Cost-efficient measures to promote electric and gas vehicles) project.

The project surveyed the alternatives of accelerating the development by modelling changes in the car base in scenarios prepared with a system dynamic model.

“According to the modelling, adopting additional promotion measures would make it possible to reach an electric vehicle and plug-in hybrid base that is significantly, at least two times, larger than the goal by 2030,” said Project Manager Mikko Pihlatie of VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.

The availability and price of gas vehicles are not currently obstacles to their purchase. With regard to gas vehicles, the most important thing is to continue to expand the refuelling infrastructure. In areas where gas is available, there is no reason to postpone the purchase of a gas vehicle, as they are currently ready solutions for the cost-efficient reduction of emissions.

The biggest obstacles to the increase in the market share of electric vehicles are the high purchase prices, currently limited range of models and challenges with the implementation of at-home charging in housing companies.

“The construction of charging points in housing companies and workplaces should be made easier and encouraged, even though interest in building charging points has arisen to some extent among housing companies after the survey last spring,” said Marko Paakkinen, Senior Scientist of VTT.

New electric vehicle models, both fully-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, are being launched at an accelerating rate, and the market is developing at a rapid rate.

More than 200 new electric vehicle models are expected to enter the market by 2025. Even though the model range of electric vehicles is still limited, the features of the current models would already meet the needs of most households. Communications and marketing are effective ways to promote the demand for existing electric vehicle models.