Electric vehicles will have a range of at least 300km by 2020, Bosch CEO Volkmar Denner predicted

If the projection becomes reality it would all but eliminate one of the big reservations car buyers now have about EVs, which currently have a range of around 150km.

The Bosch CEO expressed optimism over the outlook for electric vehicles. “Electromobility is currently still a niche business, but after 2020 it could very well become a mass market,” he said during a panel discussion Monday evening.

Denner stressed the need for a standardized communication interface for EVs, which he said is essential to provide future connected services to all drivers. “Electric vehicles will be connected vehicles, exchanging information with their environments,” he said.

The German government this week hosted a one-day electromobility summit. Speaking at the opening of the meeting, Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her faith in a government target of 1 million EVs on German roads by 2020. “It’s doable,” she said. Currently, there are about 8,500 EVs on the road.