, Columnist
Gasoline Reaches Its Tipping Point
Small gains in EVs can still damage refiners' profitability.
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Electric vehicles aren’t going to destroy the fossil fuel industry any time soon, but they don't need to in order to disrupt it. And that could happen within a decade, when EVs begin to tip annual growth in gasoline demand into structural decline.
The skeptics argue that the barriers to mass take-up of electric vehicles are insurmountable and that recent enthusiasm among proponents of the technology -- and some European governments -- is misplaced. High costs of ownership, limited range, lack of refueling infrastructure are among many drawbacks that will limit their adoption, and thus the power of electricity to replace gasoline. So refiners like Valero Energy, Marathon Petroleum and Exxon Mobil can breathe easy.