Automakers Are Hitting The Accelerator In The EV Race

On Thursday, Daimler AG DDAIF has officially hit the accelerator in the e-car race with Tesla TSLA, revealing it will invest more than 40 billion euros in EVs by 2030. From 2025, three new vehicle platforms will only make battery-powered vehicles. One will cover passenger cars and SUVs, one will be devoted to vans and last but not least, the third will be home to high-performance vehicles that will be launched in 2025. Under its EV strategy, the inventor of the modern motor car will be renamed Mercedes-Benz as it spins off its trucks division by the end of the year. With its partners, it will build eight battery plants to ramp up EV production.

Upon the news that come just over a week after the EU proposed an effective ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2035, shares rose 2.5%.

Automotive Peers

Ahead of the EU's announcement that is only part of a broad strategy to combat global warming, many automakers announced major investments in EVs. Earlier this month, Stellantis STLA revealed its own EV strategy that includes investing more than 30 billion euros by 2025. Mercedes Benz isn't the only one ‘going for it' to be dominant, if not all-electric, by the end of the decade. Geely Automobile Holdings Limited's GELYF Volvo Cars committed to going all-electric by 2030, while General Motors Co GM is aiming to be fully electric by 2035 and Volkswagen AG VWAGY even plans to build half a dozen battery cell plants in Europe.

Moving The Debate

Daimler's chief executive stated that spending on ICE-related technology will be "close to zero" by 2025 but he did not specify when it will end the sales of fossil fuel-powered cars. Källenius wants to move the debate away from when will the last combustion engine be built to how quickly they can scale up to being close to 100% electric.

Tough Decisions For Mercedes Benz

The undergoing shift will result in an 80% drop in investments in ICE vehicles between 2019 and 2026. This will have a direct impact on jobs because EVs have fewer components and so require fewer workers compared to their ICE counterparts. As of 2025, Daimler expects EVs and hybrids will make up half of its sales, with all-electric cars expected to account for most of that figure, which is earlier than its previous forecast for 2030.

The Battery- The Holly Grail

By 2023, Daimler plans to have a fully operational battery recycling plant in Germany. The industry leader Tesla just signed a deal with the world's largest nickel miner to secure its battery resources as it prepares to begin its own tables battery in-house. Then there's Worksport WKSP who will bring solar power to the EV table with its solar fusion TerraVis which will be fine-tuned and validated for prelaunch by the end of 2021. Although the first prototype is a solar-powered tonneau cover for pickup truck drivers, the company is also developing TerraVis COR which is a standalone product that offers remote power generation and storage. In other words, with its two-year partnership with Ontario Tech University, Worksport is fully equipped to power many automakers to step into the electrification era.

The EV race is a journey like no other we have witnessed – and the participants are going full-speed ahead as they race to reshape the energy matrix of the automotive industry.

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