Automobile companies are consistently finding ways to improve their vehicle and engine designs. With an increased emphasis on creating alternative engine solutions which are focused on solving the climate crisis. The transportation industry is facing pressure from both consumers and governments alike to transform their engine options, and the electrical vehicle is the solution most automobile companies have placed their bets on.
Electrical engines are the future
While automobile companies have vastly diversified and improved their alternative engine solutions in the past decade, the electrical engine continues to remain superior in terms of the most popular engine type on the road which is not the internal combustion engine. Hybrid electrical SUVs in particular are popular among consumers, where they can transition to greener energy sources but still have the option to use gasoline in the case they cannot access a charging station for their vehicle.
While Tesla is often hailed as the face of the electrical engine revolution, Toyota was pioneering electrical engines long before the American company was founded. The Toyota Prius was one of the first mass produced hybrid-technology vehicles on the road. However, Tesla revolutionized the idea of making sustainability luxury. While Toyota continues to advance their engine offerings, with technological advancement in hydrogen fuel-cell technology, Tesla continues to prioritize making sure that their brand is synonyms with electrical vehicle technology.
Volkswagen released new ID.4
Not to be outdone by its American and Japanese competitors, the German brand Volkswagen has recently released their 2025 ID.4. The ID.4 is Volkswagen’s fully electric vehicle, belonging to their ID model lineup of electrical engine solution offerings. The ID.4 is the very first fully electric SUV offered by Volkswagen. Volkswagen has a goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050, and their ID range is expected to play a significant role in achieving that.
Starting at just over $46,500, the all-new electric SUV packs in an a 201-horsepower engine in a single-motor model with rear-wheel drive which can go up to 206 miles of EPA-estimated range from a 58.0-kWh battery. ThenID.4 is known for being one of the more affordable electrical engine solutions on the market. For comparison, the new 2025 Tesla Model Y’s starting price is sitting at just under $57,000.
Making electric and hybrid solutions more accessible
With nearly all major automobile companies releasing their versions of electric and hybrid vehicle technology, technological advancement is no longer the challenge in terms of providing greener energy solutions. Making these vehicles more widespread and available comes down to the need to make them not just affordable for consumers, but ensuring that these vehicles can be realistically driven across cities and states.
Ensuring that there is widespread availability of charging stations across the nation would improve customer weariness towards these vehicles. This hesitancy is reflected in the popularity of the hybrid vehicle over the all-electric SUV. While consumers way want to go green and give up the internal combustion engine entirely, the reality is that a consumer base is not going to risk safety precautions over environmental concerns.
If automobile companies can work together with government to make charging stations more widespread and efficient, this would increase the demand of electric vehicles as customers would be more convinced that they they have access to suitable infrastructure to support this choice. If this was to happen, it would be interesting to see how market prices play out. Generally, when demand for a product increases, so too do the prices. However, we may see more affordable electrical engine solutions being released if there was more demand as companies begin to compete for a larger customer base for their electric vehicle models.
