The electric car market is gaining momentum moving into 2021 thanks to enhanced capabilities in electric motors as well as growing safety features. While these models are popular among adults, they’re proving increasingly popular among children.
Manufacturers are looking into this trend to uncover the fascination, hopefully tapping into a future market once these children are old enough to buy their own vehicles. Here are the reasons why kids today want electric cars.
Gathering the Data
The SBD North America, a leading consultancy agency, focuses their attention on technology within the auto industry. Recently, they’ve turned their sights towards connected and self-driving cars. In a recent conference, they pointed out that current middle-school children are not only the next generation to start purchasing automobiles but already have expansive thoughts about them.
SBD’s spokesperson for this conference, named Jeff Hannah, traveled across the country to ask these children questions about transportation prior to the conference. What he learned was the kids in middle-school aren’t as interested in earning their license as high schoolers, but that they are ecstatic about electric and autonomous cars.
Interests and Fears
Many are interested in “cars of the future,” environmentally conscious options, and love the concept of rideshare services like Uber and Lyft. While most want to see more and better electric motors in light of climate change, many also worry about autonomous vehicles.
Kids like the idea of electric, self-driving cars but also understand that current levels of autonomy aren’t as safe as they could be. There’s a lot of talk about how autonomy can make things safer as well as the need for driver control in various situations.
The real push from this generation seems to be wanting electric cars that help protect the environment as well as better public transportation options akin to ridesharing. So, the real reason middle-school children are so interested in electric cars arises from their generation’s current views on the climate crisis.
Current Trends and Future Outlook
There’s obviously a desire for electric models in the up and coming generation, which is something manufacturers should take note of. For now, the push for better electric models continues with plenty of mishaps along the way.
There are plenty of defect cases where a California Lemon Law attorney comes into play after an accident. While those are thankfully few and far in-between, it’s still a persistent enough issue for the industry to address.
The new round of 2021 models are proving far safer than those of the prior decade, which is great news. Keep in mind that there are roughly four or more years before the kids questioned in the SBD study are of buying age, which means there can be plenty of improvements in the meantime.
As for autonomous cars, there’s a long road ahead. Ask any Sacramento car accident attorney about Tesla or Uber’s recent accidents involving self-driving vehicles. Hopefully those kinks will be worked out before the new generation starts buying their cars. Luckily for them, however, the popularity of rideshare is still increasing.