Today's Times reports:
The vast global overproduction of electric cars at a time of stalling consumer demand is likely to result in millions of zero-emission vehicles being left unsold over the next two years and hasten price wars, according to private industry research.
This is likely to benefit consumers but could send parts of the industry into crisis, experts say. Regulators and legislators, meanwhile, are likely to come under renewed pressure to rein back their ambitions to reduce carbon emissions, which has fuelled the electric car production boom.
Proprietary industry data seen by The Times shows that this time last year the global automotive industry expected to make more than 15 million battery electric cars in 2024. However, slowing consumer demand has led to that projection being cut by two million to a little over 13 million. Yet that remains about 50 per cent ahead of forecast consumer demand, which is predicting global electric car sales of about 9.3 million for 2024.
Oversupply of battery electric cars is set to worsen over the next couple years, according to analysis of the data.
Slowing demand in China, where electric car sales are projected to fall 10 per cent, has already prompted carmakers to slash prices, with Tesla and its main rival BYD cutting prices for their most popular models by 20 per cent. New AutoMotive, a transport research group, has previously forecast 10 per cent discounts this year in the UK on some electric models.