A global survey by Polestar, spurred by “the continued lack of climate action from car makers despite strong consumer demand” and a fair bit of corporate agenda, claims that the world really wants to be rid of the internal combustion engine.
Unlike other automakers, Polestar right now makes nothing but fully electric vehicles whereas years prior they had been the performance arm of Swedish automaker Volvo. So, it’s the fault of others why they haven’t sprinted to follow in their footsteps.
Just 1.5% Of All Cars Are Full Electric
Thomas Ingenlath lamented that, as of 2022, just 1.5% of vehicles on the road are fully electric – that “we’re in an EV bubble, not an EV boom.”
On the contrary, many automakers have set a firm internal timeline to going EV-only while many countries around the world have committed to outlaw the sale of new passenger cars with internal combustion engines (ICE) powered by petrol or diesel by as early as 2030 as they seem to think this is the miracle cure for the world’s climate issues.
This death cult calling for the outright ban on internal combustion engines has quite a large following with much of the European Union already committed to a 2035 deadline, echoed by many automakers based in the EU such as Mercedes-Benz, the Volkswagen Group, and Stellantis.
That year also happens to be when Japanese automakers such as Mazda and Subaru (Honda shortly after) plan to be done with phasing out ICE cars from their line up in addition to countries such as Japan, Canada, and even Thailand planning to enforce it at a national level.
Ban ICE Cars: 50% Of Singaporeans, South Koreans
Polestar funded a survey to recruit respondents in 19 countries across the world, tasking GlobeScan with conducting and compiling the data from the 18,000 individuals queried, selected to be representative of all demographics of both current and future drivers.
South Korea emerged at the top of the list of countries calling out for an ICE ban with 48% of respondents in favour of it. In the runner-up position, at 44%, was the UK while Singapore came in 3rd with 42%. Yes, we rounded up to 50%. Sorry.
Interestingly, Polestar’s own home country of Sweden found only 32% of favourable respondents while Norway, a country that’s embraced EV adoption, was further down at 27%. Australia and the United States, known for their love of V8s, big muscle, and wide open spaces, came in with 34% and 33% respectively.
Of course, this, according to Polestar, is strong evidence of consumer interest in EVs over all other types of propulsion tech for passenger cars. However, it’s pretty telling that many of these countries were clearly chosen for being EV strongholds or markets that Polestar is eager to sink its teeth into.
Also notice that they are all of the more ‘high income’ classification, whose population is comprised of people much more likely to be able to afford an EV, which are still expensive compared to an ICE vehicle. In the rest of the world, they continue to be priced out of reach for most.