據油價網2020年4月16日報道，到目前為止，每個人都應該很清楚：疫情大流行的后果正在摧毀能源和運輸行業，與爆發疫情之前雄心勃勃的計劃相比，現在電動汽車（EV）的未來看起來有些嚴峻。

伍德麥肯茲在最近發表的一份分析報告中說，去年全球EV的銷量超過了220萬輛，今年可能會下降43%。原因是：為應對疫情和迫在眉睫的經濟衰退而實施的旅行禁令抑制了人們的購買欲望，尤其是購買昂貴的東西，比如一輛新車。伍德麥肯茲分析師還指出，經濟形勢也可能增加人們對采用新技術的反感。

歐洲的EV銷量一直在強勁增長，1月份同比增長了121%。然后，疫情襲擊了歐洲，并給這種增幅致命一擊。

如今，3個月過去了，作為全球第二大EV市場的歐洲，卻在經歷著疫情的陣痛，而歐洲大陸的經濟前景更是糟糕透頂。

旅行禁令、國家封鎖、成千上萬的受害者、供應鏈中斷以及內部政治分歧正在撼動歐盟。因此，彭博社日前對經濟學家進行的調查顯示，今年上半年歐元區經濟可能會收縮10%以上。僅在第二季度，歐元區經濟就將下滑8.3%。盡管這并不像對美國經濟最糟糕的預測那么嚴重，但對EV市場而言，這仍是一次毀滅性的沖擊。

就連通常表現強勁、不屬于歐元區的挪威經濟，今年也將疫情而出現收縮。挪威是歐洲最強勁的EV市場，這對汽車行業來說是一個壞消息。

另外一個壞消息是，由于疫情，歐洲另一個重要EV市場的英國可能會看到其今年國內生產總值縮水高達35%。德國經濟僅在今年第二季度預計就將收縮9.8%，而且這個經濟收縮國家的名單還在擴大。

與此同時，汽車制造商正在關閉工廠，歐洲各國政府也承諾不會讓任何企業因為危機而倒閉。在美國，通用汽車公司時下正在生產口罩，以解決美國國內危機期間的口罩短缺問題。汽車工業現在幾乎和其他所有行業一樣一團糟。

伍德麥肯茲的拉姆·錢德拉塞卡蘭和加文·蒙哥馬利在他們的分析報告中寫道，然而，現在有一線希望：“汽車制造商沒有改變他們的碳中性目標，而我們也不指望政府推遲或取消逐步淘汰內燃機汽車的政策。盡管人們很容易認為油價暴跌對EV的采用是個壞消息，但實際上，購買價格、充電基礎設施和現有車型對銷量的影響要大得多。”

面對二戰以來最嚴重的經濟衰退，歐洲能否堅持EV的優先發展方向，繼續對EV進行補貼，甚至增加補貼，以使受經濟衰退打擊的民眾更能負擔得起EV?美國可以嗎?這只是使EV不久的未來變得有些黑暗的問題之一。

EV革命需要錢；就是這么簡單。開發更便宜但可靠的型號的EV需要付出高昂的代價。因此建立一個足夠密集的充電站網絡也是如此。汽車制造商已經在他們的EV項目上花費了數十億美元，并準備進行大規模的投入。現在，這些投入很可能會失敗，特別是如果危機持續到今年上半年結束，這不是不可能的。

不過，從長遠來看，EV無疑會繼續存在。他們只是需要更長的時間來替換內燃機汽車。

伍德麥肯茲分析師寫道：“疫情的全面影響還有待觀察。這句可怕的話很適合寫恐怖小說。事實上，我們迄今還沒有看到疫情對世界經濟的傷害到底有多大，我們只能希望，它還沒有糟糕到讓化石燃料向電力的轉變倒退幾年。”

李峻 編譯自 油價網

原文如下：

EV Sales Could Crash By 43% This Year

By now, it should be clear to everyone: the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic is killing both the energy and transportation industries, and now the future of EVs is looking somewhat grim compared to ambitious pre-COVID-19 plans.

Sales of electric vehicles, which in 2019 topped 2.2 million, could plunge 43% this year, Wood Mackenzie said in a recent report. The reason: the travel bans in response to the coronavirus and a looming recession, which has dampened people's appetite for new purchases, especially costly ones such as a new car. The economic situation, the Wood Mac analysts also noted, is also likely to increase people's aversion to new technology adoption.

EV sales in Europe had been on an impressive upswing, up by 121% on the year in January. Then, coronavirus struck and rained on this parade.

Now, three months later, Europe, the second biggest market for electric cars, is in the throes of the coronavirus and the outlook for the continent's economies is nothing short of horrible.

Travel bans, national lockdowns, tens of thousands of victims, disruptions across supply chains, and internal political divisions are shaking the EU. As a result, the eurozone economy could shrink by more than 10% in the first half of the year, a survey among economists made by Bloomberg has suggested. In the second quarter alone, the euro area is set for a slump of 8.3%. While that’s not as bad as the worst predictions for the US economy, it is still a devastating shock for the EV market.

Even Norway's economy, normally strong and outside the eurozone, is set for a contraction this year as a result of the pandemic. And Norway is the strongest EV market in Europe, so that's bad news for the industry.

In further bad news, the UK, another big EV market, could see its GDP shrink by as much as 35% because of the pandemic. Germany's economy is expected to book a 9.8% contraction in the second quarter of the year alone, and the list is expanding.

Meanwhile, carmakers are shutting down factories, and European governments are promising not to let any businesses fail as a result of the crisis. In the US, GM is producing face masks to address a shortage amid the crisis. The car industry is in the same shambles as almost every other industry right now.

Yet there is a silver-ish lining: "Automakers haven't changed their carbon-neutral goals and we don't expect governments to defer or cancel policies designed to phase out internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles," Wood Mac's Ram Chandrasekaran and Gavin Montgomery wrote in their report. "And while it's tempting to think that the oil price crash is bad news for EV adoption, in reality, the purchase price, charging infrastructure and available models currently have a much greater impact on sales."

With the worst recession since the Second World War, could Europe stick to its EV priorities and continue subsidizing them, even increasing the subsidies in order to make them more affordable for a recession-stricken population? Could the United States? This is just one of the questions rendering the immediate future of EVs somewhat murky.

The EV revolution needs money; it's as simple as that. Developing cheaper but reliable models comes with a significant price tag. So does building a dense enough network of charging points. Automakers have already spent billions on their EV programs, and were preparing for major launches. Now, these could well flop, especially if the crisis drags on beyond the end of the first half of the year, which is not out of the realm of possibility.

Still, over the long term, EVs will undoubtedly survive. It will just take them a bit longer to replace internal combustion engines.

"The full impact of the pandemic remains to be seen," the Wood Mac analysts wrote. This is a scary line fit for a horror novel. Indeed, we have yet to see exactly how much the pandemic has hurt the world's economies and can only hope that it's not bad enough to set back the shift from fossil fuels to electricity by years.