Tesla launched its first car in 2008.
Now, 17 years later, global EV sales are expected to pass 20 million units in 2025.
That’s more electric vehicles than the TOTAL number of cars sold annually in all of Europe.
But what I’m writing about is bigger than cars.
I’m thinking about how major consumer shifts usually happen. Not in sudden bursts, but in long, complex waves that create opportunity ripples everywhere.
The EV evolution is causing several lateral shifts I can think of:
- Home charging infrastructure
- Battery tech advances
- Power grid improvements
- Solar panel adoption (and accelerated technology/lifecycle maturity)
- Smart energy management
There are 3 patterns here that matter for every product maker, even if you stay far away from EVs, batteries or solar cells.
First: The infrastructure ALWAYS lags behind the innovation. Early adopters will put up with inconvenience. Mass market won’t. (And large-scale adoption demands mature, reliable, readily available infrastructure.)
Second: Supporting technologies evolve to solve problems, including ones you didn’t even know you had. (Who thought about home charging management systems in 2008? Like, no one.)
Third: The “flip” from want to need tends to happen at different times in different markets. China’s at 40% growth, while Canada is at 16.5%. The U.S. is lagging at 7.3% and suddenly pulling WAY back. Europe’s variable and overall somewhere in the middle.
Action for today: Look at your extended product ecosystem, and not just your product. What supporting innovations could make your solution more valuable in 3-5 years? Are you ready to catch that wave?
Want to brainstorm how macro trends could impact your product strategy? Let’s talk about riding the right wave — as always, just hit reply.
Laurier
Product Payoff: When Roomba launched its first robot vacuum (originally dubbed the “DustPuppy”) in 2002, smart home technology wasn’t even a thing. Today, 70% of Roomba customers connect their vacuums to home networks — a feature the three co-founders couldn’t have planned for, but were ready to embrace when the infrastructure arrived.