HSBC report says low carbon cars market will grow very rapidly to 2020
Mon 06 September 2010
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The low carbon vehicle sector will grow even faster than the rapidly expanding renewables sector in the period to 2020 according to a report for investors by the leading bank HSBC. The report predicts that 8.65m electric vehicles and 9.23m plug-in and hybrid electric vehicles will be sold globally in 2020, up from around 5,000 and 657,000 respectively in 2009. When fuel-efficiency measures and switches to lower carbon transport such as trains and coaches are included, the report for investors predicts that the market will be worth $677bn (440bn) a year in 2020 up from $113m in 2009.
In contrast, HSBC predicts smaller growth in the renewable energy sector, from $203bn in 2009 to $544bn in 2020. Nick Robins, Head of the HSBC Climate Change Centre of Excellence and lead author of the report, said the findings stem from growing confidence in the area over the past year as major manufacturers have launched low carbon cars. The HSBC report predicts the overall low-carbon energy market both generation and use will triple to $2.2tn in 2020, under its most likely scenario, but suggest it could be as low as $1.5tn if governments renege on existing climate change and energy commitments or as high as $2.7 trillion if current commitments are exceeded.
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