Most of us probably realize by now that the future of transportation across the world is steadily evolving into electric vehicles. Whether we like it or not, eventually most ground travel will become electric, but what will that look like? That’s what we wanted to take a glimpse at here.
Personal Electric Transportation
This area of the market is where most of us have already noticed a change. We all see the new electric vehicles (EV) on the road and charging stations popping up in parking lots all over. We also see the electric scooters and e-Bikes riding up and down the streets of most major cities across the US. This will obviously continue to grow and expand over time as we see more and more governments getting involved and a higher quantity of companies investing in battery technology. The big question here is how long until personal electric transportation is the majority? Answers to this will vary depending on what you read, but signs of the ultimate switch from gas to electric in the personal EV industry will happen, but will take time for infrastructure, materials to develop and costs to improve.
If you look at vehicle manufacturers, most of them have already at least dipped their toes in the electric realm. If they haven’t, they have probably announced plans to do so in the near future. Toyota, as an example, recently announced that they plan to offer 30 electric models by 2030. That is a lot, and it includes everything from small sports cars to cargo vans in the lineup.
Then there’s the growth of electric scooters, bikes, and beyond. In fact, there’s more electric bikes in the US market than all the electric cars combined. It started with hoverboards and electric scooters, but has now grown into so much more. Electric street bikes, electric dirt bikes, electric ATVs, electric riding lawn mowers, and probably a lot more are all now viable, affordable (kinda) options for small personal EVs.
Who knows what personal transportation we will have in the distant future, but there are already some coming in the not-so-distant future you may or may not have heard of. For example, did you know that there is a company that claims it will have working drone-style taxi service by 2028? Or that we already technically have a working “flying car”? So, although we cannot predict the future, the present gives us a pretty good idea where we are headed.
Public Transportation
Although this might not be as visually stunning as personal transportation, the transition is still happening. Just like with personal transportation, governments are getting more involved with laws and regulations to speed the process. There are already plenty of cities implementing plans for electric buses and passenger trains, which is something we all probably expected at some point. But what about planes?
Believe it or not, electric planes have been in the works for quite awhile. Airbus has been working toward electric propulsion since 2010 and has even launched a hybrid-electric passenger aircraft prototype that seems promising. United Airlines have announced that they expect to have electric planes flying by 2030. That’s not too far off!
Business Investments
If you don’t already believe that electric is the future of transportation, just look at what businesses around the world are investing in. Shell is a perfect example. Most people know Shell as a big oil company, but even they see the writing on the wall with electric transportation and huge renewable energy projects. They have been working on a strategy they call Powering Progress, and it’s not just feel good fluff. A recent development in this strategy was the purchase of SBRS GmbH, a leading provider of charging infrastructure solutions for commercial electric vehicles, including e-buses, e-trucks and e-vans. They have also assisted heavily in the early stages of infrastructure for EV charging stations across the world, and are involved in several other ventures within clean energy industry.
Beyond Shell, plenty of other companies across the world are working on similar investments for the future of transportation. The more this happens, the faster we progress to an electric majority.
The Future
So, when will we live like the Jetsons? It’s hard to say, but everything seems to point to this happening faster than most of us probably thought possible. We already have plenty of personal EV choices, flying cars already exist, and everything with a motor seems to be getting taken over by electric. The possibilities are endless. Time to sit back and enjoy the RIDE.