The Electric Vehicle: A SWOT analysis of the German Automotive Industry

Continuous global population growth and an unbroken trend of increasing urbanization has exacerbated mobility challenges and intensified worries about climate change. Roughly 10 billion people will live on this planet by 2050 (United Nations, 2017) and two-thirds of this population will live in cities by 2050 (Global Challenge Insight Report, 2016) giving rise to dozens of new megacities globally that will push the demands of mobility and transportation to its very limits. Furthermore, the Paris Agreement, an agenda within the United Nations Framework Convention, requires all participating nations to pursue ambitions efforts to combat climate change (United Nations, 2016). Essentially, if emissions were to be reduced gradually, they would need to reach zero within about 50 years, in order to stay within the carbon emissions budget (van Vuuren, Boot, Hof, & den Elzen, 2017). The magnitude of this task is enormous, necessitating an energy transition towards new, climate-neutral infrastructure in order have a remote chance of fulfilling the emission targets. Appendix 1 illustrates the extent of the difficulty of these goals. A transition policy that is fixated on the rapid implementation of all infrastructural, technological and institutional prerequisites is essential and requires a large-scale application of low-carbon technologies in order to be successful. Despite the afore mentioned complexities shaping our world, one thing will remain a constant; that is the need for transportation. Transport as a derived demand will remain essential, no matter where the mobility of the future takes us, in catering to varying needs of society in respect to trade, logistic, commuting, trade, leisure, etc. Hence, it is essential that all major players in the automotive industry undergo constant planning and revision in order to adapt to the challenges and changes its environment undergoes.