Future of the Automotive Industry (Auto Trends)

Future of the Automotive Industry (Auto Trends): "Future of automotive industry – articles, videos and presentations on the future of the auto industry by Futurist conference keynote speaker Patrick Dixon. There are many key trends which will impact automotive manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, customers and drivers over the next decade. Here are a few which relate specifically to energy use, development of electric cars and more efficient trucks / lorries, plus new public transport / buses.

Revolution on the roads
Expect to see many rapid improvements in vehicle fuel efficiency using petrol and diesel, and many new ultra-efficient hybrid vehicles. Even if we only saw 30% energy saving in 30% of vehicle miles driven in developed nations over the next decade, we would save at least 9% in motoring energy use (at today’s rate of miles driven a year). That would be the same as cutting today’s global emissions by more than 1%.

Greening of the world car fleet is happening rapidly. JD Power Consultancy estimates that a third of emission cuts by 2020 will come from improving petrol and diesel engines, and 14% from miles driven in electric vehicles.

If all vehicles in America were hybrids, and half were plug-in hybrids (larger batteries), US imports of oil would fall by 8 million barrels a day or by 80% of daily consumption."