Russia’s continued invasion of Ukraine has resulted in issues of higher fuel prices but electric vehicles (EVs) are helping to undermine this situation. According Green Car Reports plug-in and all-electric vehicles have saved around 1.5 million barrels of oil per day last year, according to new analysis from Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
This is around one-fifth of Russia’s pre-invasion oil exports, according to the Bloomberg NEF report. The oil avoided by electric vehicles use has doubled since 2015, to about three percent of global demand, according to the analysis.
It’s not just electric cars that have helped this situation, two- and three-wheel electric vehicles, especially popular in India and many parts of Asia, accounted 67 percent of the oil demand avoided in 2021, according to Bloomberg NEF.
These vehicles far outstripped the demand for passenger vehicles, which accounted for just 13 percent of avoiding oil use. Electric buses were just ahead at 16 percent, although passenger electric vehicles were the fastest-growing segment and this trend is expected to continue according to Bloomberg NEF.
This proves that electric vehicles are becoming an oil disruptor and will continue to be so in a big way over the next decade, especially as the biggest global carmakers ramp electric vehicle production.
The amount of displaced oil demand is still a small fraction of the total global market. That said, this is in line with a 2017 prediction by research firm Wood Mackenzie stating that electric vehicles could be a serious disruptor.
