take off
近所でも軽自動車よりも小型のEVをちらほらみかけるようになりました。充電インフラが整備されるようになると飛躍的に伸びることでしょう。
take offは多義のPVです。ここのtake offは「自動詞」＋「副詞」ですが、おなじみの「離陸する」ではピタッときません。Minnesotaくん、どうでしょうか。（UG）
Small cars, big expectations / As competition builds, battery makers hope for ultra-mini EV boom
Although the electric vehicle market has yet to take off, lithium-ion battery manufacturers anticipate a boom in sales of electric "ultra-minicars," and domestic makers are already locked in fierce competition with overseas rivals over who will supply the batteries that power the next-generation cars.
Most ultra-mini models run on all electric motors, and all the major automakers have entered or aim to enter the market.
A surge in sales of ultra-minicars would mean battery makers could ramp up underused production facilities, a problem currently troubling the industry, which also could lead to lower prices.
Toshiba Corp. predicts ultra-minicars will be popular in a few years, and has begun pushing automakers to use its batteries.
Toshiba provides batteries for Honda Motor Co.'s Fit EV and Suzuki Motor Corp.'s Wagon R minicar, but it wants its batteries to power even more models--including the ultra-minis.
Other Japanese battery manufacturers are also intensifying their efforts to have their products installed in ultra-minicars.
Since the vehicles are all-electric, some batteries used in them have power-storage capacities five times greater than those in electric-gas hybrids.
However, ultra-minicars cannot be driven freely in Japan. Only this winter will they be allowed to run on some public roads. A true ultra-minicar boom is thus probably some time away.
