Gas powered cars will be gone in 60 seconds. Elon has led the charge to replace them with sexy electric vehicles (EVs). But gone are the days of the one-car electric vehicle race. Tesla has some serious competition and we’ll all be the benefactors of this clean contest.

Pedal to the Metal

Traditional automakers’ shift to producing electric vehicles has been fast and furious. The world’s biggest auto companies have made profound commitments to an EV future:

VW & Audi: The CEO of VW stated that, “the future of driving is electric” and has planned to invest $10 BILLION over the next 5 years to develop its own line of electric vehicles. Audi, a subsidiary of VW, is also in hot pursuit of securing its place in an EV future by cutting gas and diesel R&D by roughly $12 BILLIONand allocating that money for electric car development.

Ford: The OG American car company is veering its resources, $4.5 billion to be exact, to add 13 new EVs to its portfolio by 2020. Just last week, Ford struck a $765 million joint venture deal to begin manufacturing EVs in China.

Toyota: Even Toyota who has been asleep at the starting line is setting up a whole new entity with Mazda to develop a line of electric Prius models to get its EV production into motion.

The Front Runners

Tesla: “Who would have thought 450,000 people would pay $1,000 to have the privilege to be on a waiting list to buy an electric car?!” — Commissioner Cliff Rechtschaffen, California Public Utilities Commision. The Model S has been the most revolutionary vehicle for the car industry since the Ford Model T 100 years ago. We’ve discussed the effect of the company time after time.

GM: At around $38,000 and reaching the critical threshold of over 200 miles per charge, the Bolt became the first mass-market car. Wired, a publication with world-class writing, tells the tale of how GM beat Tesla to the punch. More and more people are getting behind the wheel of a Bolt:

Nissan: The Leaf was introduced in 2010, and since then, it has become the world’s best selling EV with nearly 300,000 units sold. However, with only 100 miles of range, the Leaf has been losing market share to its competitors.

The European Grand Prix: The outright leader in terms of EVs sold this year is Reanault with its Zoe model. Europeans also trust in German engineering as BMW’s i3 is the second most sold car this year.

The LARGEST Car Market in the World, China: With nearly 28 million cars purchased last year, China’s race is a big one. BAIC’s EC-Series and Zhidou’s D2 EV are leading the pack in this heavyweight race.

Tokyo Drifting into the Future

Like in all races, time matters. The faster we race to an electric vehicle future, the faster we achieve environmental sustainability. We can actually help drive the industry forward by being customers and increasing demand for EVs.

Do you know someone interested in buying an EV? Be a pal and forward them this newsletter! The Earth is the real winner of this race.

Act on Climate

Brought to you by Marisa Persson in Los Angeles, CA

Twitter: @MarisaPersson Instagram: @MarisaPersson

Want to get the latest cleantech jobs sent to you? Check out our newsletter! ->