Keen interest in evworld

Hundreds of people keen to learn more about the electric vehicle world are pouring in to the evworld NZ expo in Auckland.

It’s on at the Vodafone Events Centre in Manukau, with a trade day and conference today and a free public open day tomorrow.

“Be ready for a sudden tipping point,” international keynote speaker Peter Harrop of IDTechEx told a packed conference opening.

Expanding on the topic of “the global outlook for the EVolution”, Harrop urged conference visitors to be prepared. “EVs will profoundly change the world within the next 20 years,” he says, adding it may even be sooner.

Using the smartphone as an example, Harrop says while such technology is initially expensive (like EV prices), everyone usually gets one and prices drop.

That’s not just bikes, cars, buses and heavy trucks and machinery either. Aviation and shipping are other key transport modes that will change, Harrop says.

He says pure electric is the way the world’s going, including New Zealand. “Forget fuel cell vehicles -using power to make hydrogen to generate electricity is pointless,” he says.

Harrop reckons hybrids will eventually come to an end too.

Many EVs will be powered by solar, wind or some other independent energy form, becoming energy independent vehicles (EIVs), he says.

That, along with increased EV range, will probably avoid the need for a proliferation of charging stations, Harrop says.

Warning of the coming impact of EVs on society, Harrop believes conventional vehicle sales will collapse, gas stations close and a wide range of industries will be affected.

Pointing to eventual diesel use limitation is major cities worldwide, Harrop says people won’t want to buy a vehicle they cannot use in some places.

He says rapidly growing technology will end range anxiety and provide autonomous, multiple passenger forms of e-mobility.

He says of the global EVolution: “It is happening.”