BNP Paribas Cools EV Expectations Amid Infrastructure Woes

The global energy crisis may be pushing the balance towards pure electric cars amid worries about surging petrol bills, but BNP Paribas is cooling down expectations as a lack of charging infrastructure and high insurance costs remain major stumbling blocks.

The forecast could dampen investor enthusiasm for Chinese makers of battery electric vehicles (EVs), which had surged in the past two months on the back of rising exports.

“The infrastructure readiness is not necessarily there” in many countries, said James Kan, head of industrials research in Asia-Pacific at BNP Paribas, which opened its two-day annual EV and mobility conference in Hong Kong on Monday. “We believe EVs and internal combustion engine vehicles will coexist longer.”

Kan counted China and Europe as the top markets in terms of infrastructure readiness, adding that the US and some emerging countries were reverting to partly electrified options like hybrid EVs because of ageing grid networks.

Across all power trains, battery EVs are fully independent of petrol, while hybrid EVs and plug-in hybrid EVs combine an internal combustion engine with an electric motor.

Kan said saved petrol costs could be offset by insurance and maintenance expenses for EVs in some emerging markets.