Electrification of the automobile

Obviously, I'm late to this story, but I wanted to catalog it here anyways. When General Motors and Chrysler basically failed in 2009 and were bailed out, I thought to myself that this was the opening that electric cars needed to get a foothold in the market. A couple of electric car companies had been operating prior to the auto company decline, but now there was a large enough void to make a big difference. GM and Chrysler have since bounced back to some extent, but they both have learned from the crisis about the electrification of the automobile. I think the next decade will see lots of electric car companies contending for market share along with GM, Chrysler, Ford and foreign veterans as well. But after a decade or so, that number will come way down until we see a just few big contenders in the US. I wanted to list the electric car companies operating as of now and try to assess which ones have the most promise.

Venturebeat.com has a great list of 30 electric car companies around the world which have some chance of maybe becoming Blue Chip some day, who knows. Of course, GM is releasing its hybrid Volt next year. Ford is already into the hybrid business and talking about an electric Focus by 2012 or so. Chrysler actually has a subsidiary, Global Electric Motors, which has the e2, an electric cart really. It's not exactly highway material. Nissan is going to raise GM's Volt with the fully electric Leaf next year. Mitsubishi's fully electric MiEV should begin sales in the US in 2011. Volkswagen and Infiniti both have plans for a full electric car by 2013. And we all know that Toyota and Honda have had great hybrid electric vehicles for years. So the major auto manufacturers are heading towards electrification, but what of the new guys?

Well, the brashest one has to be Tesla Motors, which has been selling its luxury electric Tesla Roadster for years, and plans to start selling a more reasonably priced Model-S full electric sedan by 2012.

Zenn Motors and Smart USA both have full electric cars out now but they are very small and have limited speed capabilities. They're great for getting around town, though. I see quite a few around Rochester, and am a little jealous when I'm driving my clunky SUV. These two companies seem to be betting that Americans will compromise on size, which is a prediction that might be on shaky ground.

Think is a promising looking company with full electric car models offered now that can reach highway speeds. This is one to watch.

Phoenix Motorcars was a company I hadn't heard of before, but has surprisingly competitive full electric SUV sized models. It may be the cost of $45,000 or the range of 250 miles (not bad, actually) that is keeping consumers from buying them. This is another one to watch.

Fisker Automotive is a competitive company with hybrid electric model called the Karma. And it's available now. I'm not quite sure of the prospects of this company, but I wouldn't be surprised if they pull ahead.

I've omitted companies profiled in Venturebeat's article if they are not offering vehicles in the US anytime soon. I've also omitted some companies offering only three wheeled electric car options, because I don't see those appealing to the average American consumer.

I think that Tesla Motors, Phoenix Motorcars and Think will have the best chances of supplanting the dominance of GM, Chrysler and Ford. I wish all of them luck. It's likely too, though, that some foreign auto companies could capitalize on this market void and be the first ones to jump in with viable electric cars. Toyota and Honda have a head start with that, but don't seem to be cinching it.


The good news here is that there are already plenty of contenders to fill the electric car void. And the winners could easily be brand new automotive companies. It would be something if they end up usurping the Big Three and upsetting the automotive market. Perhaps the electrification of the car is a bit of a silver lining to the whole automotive financial meltdown. But it's more likely that the financial meltdown of the automotive sector was the first signal of an approaching systemic shift in automotive drive train conventions.