Right now, one percent of all cars that roll on Swedish roads are electric cars, but that number seems to be growing.

Of all newly registered cars during the first half of 2020, eight percent were electric cars, which is eight times more than five years ago, according to Bil Sweden.

Motor journalist Jonas Fröberg believes that the shift that more electric cars will be sold than cars that run on fossil fuels, falls in 2030. 

- But it depends very much on government subsidies for electric cars and how fossil cars are taxed, says Jonas Fröberg.

Battery price dropped by 90%

The battery accounts for almost half of the cost of a new electric car and expensive batteries have long helped to keep electric car prices up.

But fierce competition and technology development have created price pressure and in the last ten years, battery prices have fallen by almost 90 percent, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Peter Carlsson, CEO of the battery company Northvolt, believes that there will soon be electric cars that can compete in all price ranges. 

- Between 2025 and 2030, the cost of batteries will go down to the point when electric cars become cost-effective in all product segments.

Then electric cars will be completely competitive, even in low price segments.

Cars with internal combustion engines more expensive options

Thomas Ingenlath, CEO of the electric car manufacturer Polestar, believes that the shift is closer than that, largely due to falling battery prices.

- In about 3 years we will reach the opposite relationship.

Cars with internal combustion engines will be the more expensive option.

Cleaning cars with internal combustion engines requires a lot of time and expensive technology, says Thomas Ingenlath.

The author and motoring journalist Jan-Erik Berggren believes that electric cars will replace fossil cars in 2028, but says that this could have happened earlier.

That it will come now is largely due to new EU requirements.

- Manufacturers have been able to make electric cars technically for a long time, but it is the politicians' new rules, in line with the climate debate, that make the change. 

Hope fossil cars stop selling within ten years

In Sweden, the government wants new fossil cars to stop being sold by 2030, an investigation into whether it should be completed next year.

Maria Bratt Börjesson, professor of economics, believes that electric cars will take over in 2026, but it takes a lot of politicians for the transition to succeed.

Above all, the electricity network must be expanded so that it will be possible to set up charging posts all over the country.  

- Expanding infrastructure for charging, the market will be able to.

But it is the cables up to the road that are the problem.

The finance office is published every Tuesday night on SVT Play.

It is also broadcast on SVT2 on Tuesdays 21.45

 Host: Alexander Norén