Finland is rapidly moving towards full electrification of transportation as attitudes towards electric vehicles that remain expensive become more favourable, and petrol prices help drive the change.
The number of fully electric vehicles is predicted to increase, with the share of fully electric vehicles reaching 42% by 2025 and almost 70% by 2030, a survey by the Finnish Information Centre of the Automobile Sector published on Tuesday reads.
“The more personal experience with electric cars, the more positive the opinion towards them,” said Tero Kallio, Managing Director of the Finnish Automobile Industry Association, commenting on the survey results.
Finland has a population of 5.5 million and 2.7 million cars, but only 18% of cars sold in Finland last year were fully electric.
But in a country where the average distance between major cities can be between 100 and 500 kilometres, attitudes seem to be changing fast, and higher petrol prices have made drivers rethink their attitude to electric vehicles.
According to the survey, while 44% of the respondents said they were prepared to go fully electric, some 82% said they were inclined to buy a petrol hybrid car, while 55% said they would choose a plug-in hybrid.
However, the lack of charging points and associated infrastructure is deterring people from buying such cars, and while the number of charging points is increasing, it is not happening fast enough to meet demand.
The average €50,000 price tag for a fully electric car is another element that is currently deterring many Finnish households.
(Pekka Vänttinen | EURACTIV.com)
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