For car companies with big electric ambitions, 2021 will be a year of manufacturing or a break.
More than a dozen new electric vehicle models are set to hit US showrooms this year, while Silicon Valley-inspired startups and established carmakers such as General Motors Co. and Volkswagen AG, show drivers the results of spending billions on technology.
For consumers, this will mean more plug-in options on the new car than ever before. But whether carmakers can persuade buyers to give up fossil fuels for good is still uncertain.
Many challenges remain for electric vehicles: insufficient charging places, limited travel autonomy and sticker prices, which are even higher than similar rides powered by conventional petrol engines. An existing $ 7,500 federal tax credit aims to help close the price gap, and industry officials said they hope to extend the benefit through new legislation.
An influx of new electric car models has helped boost battery vehicle sales in Europe and China last year. But in the US, where buyers had fewer options and less government-backed incentives, car sales fell about 10 percent in 2020, industry analysts say.