More than 1 in 4 cars sold around the world in 2025 are expected to be EVs, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA). And if EVs stay on track, they could make up over 40% of global car sales by 2030.

The IEA’s Global EV Outlook 2025 report, released today, shows the electric car market is still charging ahead, even with some bumps in the road. Despite economic pressures on the auto sector, EV sales hit a record 17 million in 2024, pushing their global market share past 20% for the first time. That momentum carried into early 2025, with EV sales jumping 35% in Q1 year-over-year. All major markets saw record-breaking Q1 numbers.

China continues to lead the EV race by a wide margin. Nearly half the cars sold there in 2024 were electric. That’s over 11 million EVs – more than the entire world sold just two years earlier. EV adoption is also booming in emerging markets across Asia and Latin America, where sales shot up by more than 60% last year.

In the US, EV sales grew about 10% year over year, with electric vehicles now making up over 10% of all new car sales. Meanwhile, Europe’s EV sales hit a plateau. As government incentives started to taper off, the continent’s market share held steady at around 20%.

“Our data shows that, despite significant uncertainties, electric cars remain on a strong growth trajectory globally,” said IEA executive director Fatih Birol. “Sales continue to set new records, with major implications for the international auto industry.”

One of the main drivers is lower prices. The average cost of a battery electric car dropped in 2024, thanks to increased competition and falling battery prices. In China, two-thirds of EVs sold last year were cheaper than their gas-powered counterparts, and that’s without subsidies. But in markets like the US and Germany, EVs are still pricier up front: around 30% more in the US, and 20% more in Germany.

Still, EVs win when it comes to operating costs. Even if oil drops to $40 per barrel, it’s still about half as expensive to charge and run an EV at home in Europe than to drive a gas car. New cars tend to be bought by people or organizations that drive a lot for work. Older cars drag the average miles driven per car down. You can expect EVs to start dominating what you see on the roads a lot sooner than some of the statistics would suggest. The number of miles driven for EVs will be higher than ICE cars.

The report also notes the growing role of Chinese EV exports. About 20% of all EVs sold globally last year were imported. China, which produces over 70% of the world’s EVs, exported 1.25 million of them in 2024. These exports have helped push down prices in emerging markets.

And it’s not just electric cars that are on the rise. Electric truck sales jumped 80% globally last year, now making up nearly 2% of the truck market. Most of that growth came from China, where some heavy-duty electric trucks are already cheaper to run than diesel, even if the upfront cost is higher.

Source: Electrek

The statistics don't lie.

A question of estimation: how often does the roadside assistance have to be called out per year? Difficult to estimate, right? The German ANWB colleagues of the ADAC had to go out 3.6 million times last year for a breakdown. That is an average of 9,863 times per day. So the emergency services are not sitting still, and the same applies to the researchers of the ADAC. With so many bad luck cases, scientists have a huge mountain of data to calculate statistics. For example, the hypothesis that electric cars are more reliable than petrol cars. That is not as simple as it seems.

EV vs Gasoline

ADAC points out an important point when comparing electric and petrol cars. The average age of all cars registered in Germany is around 10 years. EVs are a lot younger. I don't have to explain to you that younger cars have less breakdowns than diesel cars that have been around for over 10 years. That's why ADAC limits its research to cars built in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

The ADAC reports that in 2024 exactly 43,678 calls were made for an EV standing still next to the road. That is 46 percent more than in 2023. Not so strange, the ADAC thinks, because there are a lot more EVs. And we thought that things were going so badly with the EV in our eastern neighbours.

EV more reliable than petrol and diesel cars

Anyone who thinks that the combustion engine would therefore be the most reliable is mistaken. Of the cars from 2020, ADAC recorded 12.9 breakdowns per 1,000 existing vehicles. For EVs, this is 8.5 per 1,000 cars. Even with newer models, cars with an exhaust break down more often. For petrol and diesel cars from 2021, ADAC recorded an average of 8.2 breakdowns per 1,000 cars and for EVs from that year only 4.3 breakdowns. In relative terms, the biggest difference is in the cars from 2022: 5.4 problem vehicles per 1,000 cars compared to 1.7 breakdowns per 1,000 EVs.

The statement

So how come EVs are so much more reliable? This is mainly due to the complex combustion engine. An engine block quickly consists of hundreds of parts, while an electric motor is much simpler with fewer parts. More parts also means a greater chance of a part breaking down.

An important difference: an electric motor does not need oil, unlike a combustion engine. If you do not top up or change the oil in time, you run an additional risk of engine damage. In addition, electric motors produce less residual heat than combustion engines, which operate at high temperatures and cause more wear.

On the other hand, EVs often have a bit more electronics on board that can cause problems. This is partly because the 12-volt battery that supplies the car's electrical system with power is sensitive to malfunctions and often runs out faster. You can help your EV with this by not always unlocking the car via the app. These starting processes put a relatively heavy load on the starter battery according to the ADAC.

In short: at the moment, a young EV in Germany is more reliable than young German cars with a combustion engine. The German equivalent of the ANWB does point out that this does not have to be the case forever. "However, it remains exciting to see how this topic will develop in the coming years", writes ADAC. But for now, the claim of a VW executive is confirmed.

This article ADAC: “Electric cars more reliable than petrol cars” first appeared on Autoblog.nl.

Source: MSN

Hyundai just notched its fifth straight record sales month in the US, driven by hot new EVs like the 2025 IONIQ 5. Last month was its best February in the US so far, but Hyundai says even more growth is coming.

“This was the best ever February for Hyundai in total sales and the fifth consecutive month of total sales records,” Randy Parker, Hyundai’s CEO for North America said after the milestone.

Hyundai sold over 62,000 vehicles in the US last month, 3% more than in February 2024 and outpacing the forecasted industry average of around 1%.

The growth was fueled by “continued growth in EVs and hybrids” with electrified sales surging 25% from last February.

Hyundai’s Sante Fe HEV, Tucson, and IONIQ 6 hit new February records with sales up 194%, 2%, and 12% respectively.

Its best-selling electric SUV, the IONIQ 5, also received a significant upgrade this year. The new 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 features more driving range (up to 318 miles), an upgraded interior and exterior, and a native NACS port so you can charge at Tesla Superchargers.

With another 2,442 IONIQ 5’s (+22%) sold last month, Hyundai has now sold 4,692 models through the first three months of 2025, up 36% from the prior year.

Drivers now have access to more than double the number of DC fast chargers (+36,000), making road trips that much easier.

The 2025 IONIQ 5 is built at Hyundai’s new EV Metaplant in Georgia, alongside its first three-row electric SUV, the IONIQ. With the IONIQ 9 launching this Spring, Hyundai expects the momentum to continue in 2025. Parker said Hyundai’s strong and diverse line-up “will propel us to further gains in market share” this year.

Source: Electrek

Hyundai's latest hydrogen vehicle is ready for its close-up, but not for too close a look.

Called Initium, the Latin word for "beginning" or "first" (quick, someone ask the Toyota Prius how it feels about this), the new SUV concept previews Hyundai’s next passenger fuel-cell model that will arrive in production form in the first half of 2025.

The Latin plural of Initium means mysteries, and that certainly applies to the FCEV's technical details for now. Still, there are a few details to be had. Hyundai said the Initium uses large hydrogen fuel tanks of an undisclosed size and low-rolling-resistance tires to maximize the vehicle's range. Hyundai said it is targeting a driving range of over 400 miles with a maximum motor output of 150 kW.

Compared to the Nexo, Hyundai's current FCEV, zero-to-100-km acceleration has been dropped to 8.0 seconds (the Nexo got to 60 mph in 8.4 seconds in our testing), while highway passing speeds (80–120 kph) are claimed at 6.0 seconds. "This is outstanding acceleration performance compared to competitor FCEVs," said Jin Hwan Jung, Hyundai senior vice president in charge of vehicle development technology, at a presentation in Seoul.

The production Initium FCEV will use Hyundai's third-generation fuel cell stack, following the company's first independent design in the 2013 Tucson FCEV, which had a power density of 2.09 kW/l, and the 2018 Nexo (3.2 kW/l). Precise numbers were not available for the new stack, but engineers told Car and Driver it would be another improvement. The durability of the new stack will also be increased by 40 percent compared to the Nexo stack. A small door on the rear passenger side of the Initium does not indicate that this is a PHEV FCV but instead hides a typical (in Korea) 220-volt household outlet since the Initium is able to provide vehicle-to-load (V2L) electricity. With full H2 tanks, the Initium will be able to produce around 100.0 kWh of offboard power, enough to power a typical Korean home for around 10 days, Hyundai said.

Initium Set to Be the Hydrogen Flagship

What Hyundai is more interested in talking about at this stage is the new "Art of Steel" design language. The Initium continues Hyundai’s striking string of recent design hits, this time with a focus on a more rugged look that’s supposed to be at home in urban or outdoor settings. Thick, blocky fenders meet golden steel in an appropriately tough update to the Nexo. Hyundai didn't show any of the vehicle's interior but did say it has nine airbags, driver monitoring through an in-cabin camera, and safety features like highway drive assist.

SangYup Lee, global design head for Hyundai and Genesis, said Initium is a "flagship" for the upcoming hydrogen society. "We took a new approach of exposing the materiality as it is, and we elevated the resilience of steel to morphological beauty," he said through an interpreter. "We call it the 'art of steel,' and this is the starting point of essential beauty you can feel from this car."

Touches of the company’s now-familiar parametric pixels light signature can be found all around the exterior, from the square or rectangular headlamps to the four dots in the grille, mimicking the four found on the steering wheels of cars like the Ioniq 5 and the Inster electric city vehicle (which also spells out H in Morse code). The pixel theme continues in the front and rear lights in the integrated roof rack. Hyundai's HTWO symbol, which looks like a pair of capital H letters sharing a side, can be found in the roof rack and rear mirrors. "With the armored design bumper invoking a solid hydrogen tank and rear steel parts exposed instead of a muffler, we made the car look strong and rugged," Lee said.

The Initium is not all right angles, though. Curves in the design of the 21-inch wheels, the C-pillar, and the rear window keep the Initium from looking too blocky. Horizontal stripes draw a line from the front wheels to partway through the rear doors. It's easy to imagine this existing as a production vehicle, but Hyundai said the real mission was to express the character of HTWO, the hydrogen value chain business brand owned by Hyundai Motor Group.

And that's really where the Initium fits in. The majority of the vehicle reveal session in Seoul was a Hyundai hydrogen history lesson, with indications of where the automaker sees H2 in the future. Hyundai Motor president and CEO Jaehoon (Jay) Chang put it most distinctly when he said, through an interpreter, that Hyundai "will build the hydrogen ecosystem for cleaner, quieter, and safer fuel cell EVs to effortlessly become part of your daily life, for everyone, everything, everywhere."

Even with its much smaller size and superior hydrogen refueling infrastructure compared to the U.S., it is not easy to live with an H2 vehicle in South Korea. As of September 2024, there are around 200 H2 fueling stations in the country. The Initium's navigation system features an FCEV-specific route planner that will allow drivers to plan their routes without range anxiety. The map won't just point the driver to the station but can also make sure that a particular station is operational and see if there are any other H2 vehicles waiting to fill up.

Source: Car and Driver

Recently Garage Centraal Aruba proudly delivered 10 Lepmotor T03 Electric Vehicles to the Horacio Oduber Hospital.

The medical and professional staff now counts with the support of these amazing electric vehicles. These are important as they support the transportation needs of the medical personnel, while providing a better environmental solution.

The Leapmotor T03 is a compact, yet fully featured vehicle with elements that can be found on more luxurious units, like an 8" Touch Screen Media and Vehicle Management interface, Sunroof, Start Button, Tire Pressure Sensor and more. It's equipped with a powerful, highy efficient powerplant as well.

As a background on Leapmotor, the company started as a supplier of bleeding edge components to other vehicle manufacturers, before making the transition into a fully fledged car brand manufacturer. The level of engineering on this brand is excellent, to the point that it granteed a 1.5 billion Euro investment from the Stellantis corporation, which itself boasys renowned brands such as Jeep, Fiat and Dodge. With this investment, Stellantis plan is to support the deployment of Leapmotor vehicles worldwide.

Nowe this group of Leapmotor T03 vehicles is ready to support the important wortk of our Hospital, all with full support of Garage Centraal Aruba as official dealer, with its certified technicians trained by the manufacturer to provide the necesssary backup for these vehicles.