As the world embraces the new age of automobiles where hybrids and electric vehicles (EV) are the 'next big thing', we see car companies go at it with brand new models every year.... only to discontinue them or cut back on their efforts.
10 years ago, the only well-known hybrid car was the Toyota Prius, the staple of the hybrid/EV market. Now, we have many hybrid versions of standard cars, like a Camry hybrid. Now you have cars like the Chevy Bolt, Kia Soul EV, Nissan Leaf, and of course the Tesla models. There's also Hyundai's new entry with the Ioniq. Other brands have at least a few models that have hybrid variants.
Companies like Ford are now pledging $11 billion to have a fleet of electric cars by 2020. They seem auspicious yet obtainable. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be very obtainable. Consider this: Ford is scrapping the C-Max, Mitsubishi scrapped the i-Miev. Even Tesla is now facing trouble as it plans to slash jobs.
While all of these set-backs are occurring, these companies are still going on. Tesla is building a new factory in Shanghai, and others are betting big on the future of EVs.
With this, companies are still launching vehicles that have low-mpgs. Why? Well, the market demand is rising for crossovers and SUVs, which are still not very efficient. All of these EVs and hybrids are smaller cars that already have a steady/declining market share.
Thus, we can see how the growth will be unsteady. While we have innovations and monetary pledges, there are still cutbacks and pushes for buying fuel-inefficient vehicles.
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