Proponents of electric vehicles writing the oil industry’s obituary should put down their pens. There’s no denying that electric cars will significantly change the transportation landscape in the coming decades, but the transformation will be gradual and poses no “clear and present” danger to global oil demand through mid-century.
Electric vehicles won’t be the disruptor to oil products in the same way that digital technology was to photographic film or iPhones were to cellular phones. There will be no Kodak moment for Big Oil. That’s because electric vehicles and conventional gasoline- and diesel-powered automobiles will co-exist. It won’t be a zero-sum game, with ample room for growth on both sides, particularly as internal combustion engines become increasingly efficient.
