Daimler Wants Governments To Offer EV Incentives

Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche said today that electric vehicles have been overhyped and that governments should offer financial incentives to help consumers buy them, according to Bloomberg.com.

            Zetsche contended that “even in the best case, the cost of electric autos might run several thousand euros more than conventional vehicles for the foreseeable future. In other words, we need appropriate sales incentives.”

            A story on the Wall Street Journal web site added that Zetsche compared electric cars to U.S. President Barack Obama. “In principle it’s similar to (U.S.) President Barack Obama – first, expectations are being raised externally and then people are surprised that they don’t get fulfilled,” he said. “From today’s perspective it’s already clear (that) we won’t earn high returns with electric cars in the years to come. And that’s optimistic wording.”

            Zetsche’s belief that EVs have been overhyped matches that of J.D. Power, which recently released a study called, “Drive Green 2020: More Hope Than Reality.” According to CNNMoney.com, the J.D. Power study contended that in ten years “just 7.3% of passenger vehicles sold globally will be hybrids or plug-in cars of some kind.”