A decade ago, spotting an electric vehicle in our region was a rare occasion, the only Tesla available was the $109,000 Roadster and the Nissan LEAF had just become available in the United States. Much has changed since then. As we head into 2020, we take a look at 10 quotes to examine how the perspective on electric vehicles has evolved over the past 10 years.

2019

“Members of the millennial and Gen Z generations care more than past generations about climate change, but younger Americans have been slow to show that belief in one important way: electric-car buying. Only 10% of electric vehicle buyers are between the ages of 25 and 34… A big reason: price. But the cost gap between electric models and gas models is beginning to shrink — and that shift is going to accelerate.” 

– CNBC

2018

“As efforts to expand EV charging take place, more focus will begin on installing charging infrastructure in locations that can be converted to support autonomous (e-powered) vehicles. 2018 will also become the year where new “multi-mobility” (Uber, Lyft, etc.) services gain traction, with consumer-citizens beginning to move past car ownership.”

– Dan Sturges, designer and entrepreneur

2017

“As the world’s automakers place larger bets on electric vehicle technology, many industry analysts are debating a key question: How quickly can plug-in cars become mainstream? The conventional view holds that electric cars will remain a niche product for many years, plagued by high sticker prices and heavily dependent on government subsidies. But a growing number of analysts now argue that this pessimism is becoming outdated.” 

– The New York Times

2016

“With all good technologies, there comes a time when buying the alternative no longer makes sense. Think smartphones in the past decade, color TVs in the 1970s, or even gasoline cars in the early 20th century. Predicting the timing of these shifts is difficult, but when it happens, the whole world changes. It’s looking like the 2020s will be the decade of the electric car.” 

– Bloomberg

2015 

“We’ve got teams of people trying to develop and work on electric cars, so you never know. You may well find Virgin competing with Tesla in the car business as we do in the space business. We’ll see what happens.” 

– Richard Branson, British business magnate

2014

“By day, electric vehicles are taking the world by storm. By night, the electric vehicle (EV) community continues to make waves. While you are in bed dreaming about how you too might own an electric car someday, many EV owners are doing something that is reshaping the energy landscape. They are using gobs of electricity.”

– GreenTech Media

2013

“I really do encourage other manufacturers to bring electric cars to market. It’s a good thing, and they need to bring it to market and keep iterating and improving and make better and better electric cars, and that’s what going to result in humanity achieving a sustainable transport future. I wish it was growing faster than it is.” 

– Elon Musk, Tesla CEO

2012 

“The electric vehicle market is growing faster than you might realize. More than 7,000 plug-in and all-electric vehicles were sold in October 2012, making it the highest month of electric car sales to date.” 

– U.S. Department of Energy report

2011

“A survey conducted last year by the Consumer Electronics Association found 71 percent of respondents feared running out of charge on the road, placing range anxiety among the most common perceived disadvantages of electric vehicles.” 

– National Geographic Magazine

2010 

“A few years ago you could barely see an electric car at the Frankfurt Auto Show. “If you walked around talking about EVs, everybody assumed you were smoking something.” 

– Shai Agassi, environmental entrepreneur