Climate Changed

Big Oil Just Woke Up to Threat of Rising Electric Car Demand

  • OPEC quintupled forecast for battery powered cars in last year
  • Oil majors and automakers diverge on outlook for EVs

QuickTake: The Drive Towards Cleaner Cars

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The world’s biggest oil producers are starting to take electric vehicles seriously as a long-term threat.

OPEC quintupled its forecast for sales of plug-in EVs, and oil producers from Exxon Mobil Corp. to BP Plc also revised up their outlooks in the past year, according to a study by Bloomberg New Energy Finance released on Friday. The London-based researcher expects those cars to reduce oil demand 8 million barrels by 2040, more than the current combined production of Iran and Iraq.