Volts wagons（1/2）

**The switch to battery-powered motoring means short-term pain but long-term gain for carmakers **
The high-pitched whirr of an electric car may not stir the soul like the bellow and growl of an internal combustion engine (ICE). But to compensate, electric motors give even the humblest cars explosive acceleration. Electric cars are similarly set for rapid forward thrust. Improving technology and tightening regulationson emissions from ICEs is about to propel electric vehicles (EVs) from a niche to the mainstream. After more than a century of reliance on fossil fuels, however, the route from petrol power to volts will be a tough one for carmakers to navigate.

• high-pitched 音调高的
• combustion n.燃烧（正式）
• whirr v.嗡嗡的响 n.嗡嗡的响声
• stir v.搅拌 微动 焕发
• bellow v&n怒吼
• growl n.怒吼
• humble 谦卑的 不大的
• thrust v猛推 冲 n推动力 要点 猛推
  电动汽车没有发动机那种雄壮的轰鸣声，但是作为补偿，它获得了极大的加速度。不断进步的技术以及对内燃机越来越严苛的法规让电动汽车从一个商机变成了主流。然而摆脱一百年来对化石燃料的依赖，步入电力时代是一条非常艰难的道路。

The change of gear is recent. One car in a hundred sold today is powered by electricity. The proportion of EVs on the world’s roads is still well below 1%. Most forecasters had reckoned that by 2025 that would rise to around 4%. Those estimates are undergoing a big overhaul as carmakers announce huge expansions in their production of EVs. Morgan Stanley, a bank, now says that by 2025 EV sales will hit 7m a year and make up 7% of vehicles on the road. Exane BNP Paribas, another bank,reckons that it could be more like 11% (see chart). But as carmakers plan for ever more battery power, even these figures could quickly seem too low.

Chart

当前电动汽车的份额不足1%，对于前景的预测众说纷纭，汽车制造商大力发展电动汽车，这些数字还是太少了。

Ford’s boss is bolder still. In January Mark Fields announced that the “era of the electric vehicle is dawning”, and he reckons that the number of models of EVs will exceed pure ICE-powered cars within 15 years. Ford has promised 13 new electrified cars in the next five years. Others are making bigger commitments. Volkswagen, the world’s biggest carmaker, said last year that it would begin a product blitz in 2020 and launch 30 new battery-powered models by 2025, when EVs will account for up to a quarter of its sales. Daimler, a German rival, also recently set an ambitious target of up to a fifth of sales by the same date.

• Ford 福特
• Volkswagen 大众汽车
• blitz 闪击战
  Ford Volkswagen Daimler三家汽车厂对电动汽车的一些目标

The surge has two explanations: the rising cost of complying with emissions regulations and the falling cost of batteries. Pure EVs, which send no carbon dioxide directly into the atmosphere, and hybrids, which produce far less than conventional engines, are a way to meet Europe’s emissions targets—albeit an expensive one. But the gains from cheaper methods such as turbocharging smaller engines, stop-start technology and weight reductions will no longer be enough, since a tougher testing regime, to be introduced in the wake of VW’s diesel-cheating scandal, will make those targets still harder to reach.

• surge 上升 涌动
• comply 遵从 服从 顺从
• regime 政体 组织方式 管理方式
  电动汽车兴起的两个原因：遵守排放规定成本升高，电池价格降低。电动汽车是一种达到欧洲排放标准比较昂贵的方式，但是自从大众出了丑闻之后，出台了更严格的测试方法，那些比较低端的方式很难达到标准。

The hefty cost of preventing nitrogen oxide spewing from diesel engines, which emit far less carbon dioxide than the petrol equivalent, may see them disappear by 2025. Further development of ICEs could be enough to meet the 2021 targets. Carmakers also need to be prepared to hit the next ones, says Andrew Bergbaum of AlixPartners, a consulting firm. These, yet to be finalised in the EU for carbon dioxide, may be as low as 68g/km by 2025 compared with 130g/km today.

Regulations are favourable outside Europe, too. In China more than 400,000 pure EVs were sold last year, making it the world’s biggest market. The government, keen to clear the air of choking exhaust fumes, has plans for a quota that could insist that 8% of sales are EVs or hybrids by 2018. And even if Donald Trump relaxes American emissions standards, this will not hold back electrification. California, which accounts for one in eight cars sold in America, is allowed to set tougher environmental standards than the national ones. It, and seven of the other states that have adopted its emissions rules, have a target of 3.3m EVs on their roads by 2025.

• choking 令人窒息的
• fume 烟
  欧洲之外的中国和美国在环境方面也采取了相关法律。