For over a century, there has been an anticipation that electric vehicles will replace internal combustion engines (ICE) and push them into obsolescence. Because the free market failed to deliver this result, in recent decades governments around the globe have been aggressively pushing for the adoption of EVs, including subsidies and — for now — legally-binding phase-outs of non-zero-emission cars. Alas, none of this appears to have had the desired effect: while global EV sales continue to grow, the pace is slowing down. According to Bloomberg’s Net Zero scenario, to accomplish a fully zero-emission vehicle fleet by 2050 it would be necessary to cease the sales of combustion engine vehicles by approximately 2038.
