Alternative Powertrains Likely in 36% of Vehicles by 2025

Vehicles with alternative powertrains (those not powered purely by gasoline) are expected to account for 36 percent of the world market by 2025 according to a forecast by LMC Automotive.

The majority of those (17.5 percent) will be hybrids like the Toyota Prius and plug-in hybrids like the Chevrolet Volt. Individually, the market will still be biased toward gasoline/electric powertrains with only 5 percent of that figure devoted to the plug-ins.

Diesel engines are forecasted to account for 10 percent of the market share. While oil burners are traditionally unpopular in the U.S., Europeans lap them up while other large markets including India, are following suit.

Flex-fuel vehicles that run on ethanol blends – a controversial topic among automakers – are likely to soak up six percent of the market and are likely to be concentrated in the U.S., Brazil and Europe.

Last year, electric cars made up a paltry 0.2 percent of the world’s market share. While EV sales have slowly been climbing, they are still hampered by poor infrastructure and questionable long-term reliability. While EVs aren’t predicted to have a large market share by 2025, they will have ballooned relative to their current position with 2.5 percent.

Volkswagen announced its plan last week to build a 10-speed dual-clutch gearbox. The news came as the latest addition to a growing list of heavily-geared transmission options. Land Rover will soon offer a nine-speed automatic while Korean giant Hyundai is working on a 10-speed torque converter automatic.

According to the forecast, there will still be roughly 64 percent of the global auto vehicle market using gasoline by 2025. But the engines and transmissions will be more efficient. Over half will be small displacement four-cylinders while V8s will account for less than 10 percent.

[Source: J.D. Power]