Since Tesla released its first electric vehicle, the Roadster, back in 2008, the company has been at the forefront of EV innovations for the past 15 years. While Tesla is still well ahead in terms of market share, there are some new players in the clean energy space. 

Schneider, a major North American transport, freight and logistics company, delivered its first battery-electric truck (BEV) in Southern California in January this year. The company had previously announced a BEV fleet back in 2021. 

Due to requirements from the California Air Resources Board, the freight trucks in the golden state are transitioning to EVs with Schneider being the first company to implement these changes to short-haul trucks in the state.

Meanwhile, despite recalling 2,800 units of its VF8 model, Vietnamese electric vehicle maker VinFast is poised to enter the U.S. market, after the company gained approval for an EV manufacturing plant in North Carolina, with production set to begin in 2024. 

VinFast shipped its first batch of 999 VF8s, its sports utility model, to the U.S. in November 2022. 

China is also making a push in the EV space. 

Chinese EV start-up, Xpeng, has recently launched two cars, the P7 Sedan and G9 SUV, which are now available to order in Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands and Sweden. 

According to the company, Xpeng’s point of difference is its focus on “smart” technology. This is evident in the 3 infotainment screens the G9s have, which is 1 more than most premium cars offer. Xpeng also claims the G9 can travel further than Tesla’s comparable Model Y Long Range, travelling up to 570 kilometres off a single charge compared to 533 kilometres for the Tesla. 

Electric vehicles not only have a mostly positive environmental impact, reducing CO² emissions, they are also economically viable too.

Using research based on Norway’s EV uptake, the world leader in the space, the Electric Vehicle Council has found there will be an estimated AUD $2.9 billion increase in real GDP in Australia, adding over 13,000 jobs to the economy as well as an investment benefit of $3.2 billion. 

For motorists, this means savings of $1,700 a year in ownership costs by 2030 and just over 10 years to offset the purchase of an EV (using the Mitsubishi Outlander as an example), through fuel savings. 

Clearly, electric vehicles are our future.