RBC predicts the electric vehicle market is on the verge of substantial growth, as prices stabilize and charging infrastructure expands.

A new report from RBC Capital Markets found that while battery electric vehicles (BEVs) represent 12 per cent of the global demand this year, demand is expected to increase over the coming decades with improves to issues such as price, charging infrastructure and driving range, along with government policies limiting use of gas-powered vehicles.

“The combination of these vehicle factors means that BEV demand ultimately becomes a consumer-led one,” the report states.  

The report projected 75 per cent of global market share for battery electric vehicles by 2050, and some developed nations seeing more than 90 per cent.

'CHOPPINESS' AHEAD FOR EV MARKET

Tom Narayan, lead global autos equity analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said projections for EV sales are down slightly over the next few years, as demand grows for SUVs and pickup trucks, which are hard to find in the EV market.

“There’s a lot of EVs coming, especially SUVs and pickup trucks,” he told BNN Bloomberg in a television interview on Monday.

“We actually ended up raising our forecast after 2025 and we’re still pretty bullish, it’s just that the next couple of years will probably have some choppiness.”

In the near term, RBC predicts hybrid vehicles will grow in popularity, but that growth will only be temporary until EV adoption takes off.

“There’s a lot of interest in plug-in hybrids now because of this EV slowdown,” Narayan said.

“There’s going to be some more interest in them now, we actually raised some of our numbers there, but at the end of the day, plug-in hybrid is a transitionary step, it’s not the final solution, folks are still going to want a full electric.”