Dotting the floor at November’s Los Angeles Auto Show was a bevy of new battery-electric vehicles, ranging from upstart Rivian’s pickup truck to more futuristic concepts like the iNEXT drawing eyes to the BMW stand.
That’s not unusual for this exhibition, held in a state that is driving the country’s zero-emissions-vehicle movement and which always plays to a crowd that leans decisively green.
This year it’s different, however, because the shift to electrification is getting serious. Automakers are expected to spend some $255 billion over the next few years developing and putting into production a next-generation range of BEVs, according to AlixPartners. Nearly 300 new or significantly redesigned BEVs will debut globally between now and 2025, Wards Intelligence data shows.
But will they have a place to plug in?
