One of the fastest-growing industry sectors for chemical manufacturing is battery production and recently unveiled data shows that the demand for battery electric cars has increased significantly within a single year in Europe.
According to data by Eurostat, an office for EU-wide statistics, the number of battery-only electric cars on the roads of Europe increased by nearly a million, from 1.9m to nearly 3m, a spike of 55 per cent.
This continues a trend of rapid growth in EVs since 2019, with increases of 85 per cent between 2019 and 2020 and 78 per cent between 2020 and 2021, and an overall increase in the market share of electric cars from 0.02 per cent when records began in 2013 to 1.19 per cent.
The reasons for this are numerous and come from cultural, political, economic and technological standpoints.
On the technology side, the rapid development of electric motors and high-capacity battery technology has helped to lower their price, which helps make electric cars not only more viable to buy but also to run.
As well as this, there is a keenness to move away from petrol and diesel, with the EU itself aiming to ban the sale of cars with combustion engines by the year 2035, giving manufacturers and drivers alike a decade to move on to something new.
Economically, this makes sense as well; as fossil fuel supplies continue to dwindle, fuel prices will inevitably increase, whilst electricity costs are already significantly lower; with lower costs to buy and costs to run, eventually the clear choice is to buy an electric car.
From a cultural and sociological perspective, electric vehicles have become more popular and more desirable, perceived as a forward-thinking, sophisticated and sensible choice.
Whilst there are still developments to be made concerning exactly which battery technologies will be dominant by the year 2035, there is a clear and sustained demand for EVs that will shape manufacturer priorities over the next decade and more.