Tim Perera | Source | Associate Director at CIL Management Consultants

There is a clear and strong future market for electric vehicles (EVs) and all other elements which go into keeping them on the road, such as running the charging networks, batteries and maintenance. Yet big carmakers have the advantage over startups, according to Perera, as volume auto will always be an extremely competitive game. We have seen this with some big players, such as Dyson, unsuccessfully trying to establish themselves in the market. In the end, most big auto players have woken up to the potential (and more pertinently the risk to them) of EVs and have many advantages over start-ups: established sales and distribution channels, service networks, manufacturing experience and brand recognition.