Automakers must cross profit desert to reach electric future

Interest in electric vehicles (EVs) has grown in the wake of the pandemic, spurred on by factors including looming emissions restrictions, government programmes to ‘build back greener’ and fresh incentives for consumers. Automaker budgets are heading in the same direction, with funding allocations for EV projects reaching record levels. The trouble is that the payback hasn’t kept pace.

“Automakers will collectively need to invest hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade to design and build EVs, with the largest automakers each investing tens of billions of dollars individually,” says Chris Robinson, Research Director at Lux Research.