GENEVA: After being the starring act for several years, the electric car backed into the shadows at this year’s International Geneva Motor Show as carmakers grow weary of waiting for sales to take off.

Electric vehicles were not completely absent from the showrooms as the 83rd edition of the Geneva show kicked off, but no new models were unveiled and car company executives on site for the media days on Tuesday and Wednesday barely mentioned them.

“Public confidence (in electric) has really fallen since its peak at the Paris show in 2010, when we only talked electric,” BIPE analyst Clement Dupont-Roc said. Back then, French carmaker Renault, which leads the electric market, opened the order books for its first electric models and chief executive Carlos Ghosn said he expected the cars to represent 10pc of the market by 2020.—AFP