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A report from Juniper Research argues that ‘range anxiety’ among car buyers is the primary challenge for automotive OEMs to overcome in order to boost adoption of hybrid and electric cars.

In order to provide an alternative to the combustion engine vehicle market, Tesla and Chevrolet are working towards providing a mileage range of over 200 miles on a fully charged vehicle. As a result, Juniper anticipates 17 million hybrid and electric vehicles on the road by 2020, up from an estimated 12 million in 2015.

The report, titled ‘Hybrid and Electric Vehicles: Consumer and Commercial Markets’, argues top electric vehicle manufacturers, in order, are Tesla, BMW, Nissan, Chevrolet and Ford. The rating for this list was based on five key factors: vehicle range; vehicle sales; infrastructure implementation; time spent in development and deployment; future plans and innovation. Though BMW and Nissan have witnessed high sales, they are behind Tesla, an electric vehicle manufacturer who has robust sales, superior mileage and commitment to its Supercharge scheme.

The research firm holds that stakeholders will have to prove the feasibility and allure of electric vehicles with consumers. They will have to do this by putting in place an aggressive ‘go to market’ strategy that includes the launch of wide-scale public charging infrastructure, the enhancing of vehicle battery life and range per charge and the undertaking of effective consumer education campaigns, with attractive incentives to facilitate a switch.

The research emphasised the critical requirement for investment in consumer education on the benefits of electric vehicles and the urgent need for an aggressive investment plan to install public charging outlets on all major routes. The study calls for auto OEMs to play an active role in this process in order to highlight electric vehicles as a real alternative.

You can find more about the report here.