BP Says Electric Cars Are Not a Gamechanger

LONDON — Although the number of electric cars on the road will grow enormously in the next two decades, global demand for oil will still be growing in 2035 due to rising prosperity in the developing world, BP predicted.

Accordingly, the company believes that electric cars will not be a "game changer" for the oil industry, reported The Guardian.

"It's not Teslas and the U.S.," stated Spencer Dale, BP group's chief economist. "It's the fact that two billion people, much of that in Asia, are moving to middle incomes, can buy their first motor car and that drives up oil demand. It's that stuff that really matters."

Forecasts such as Bloomberg New Energy Finance have previously predicted that more than 200 million electric cars will be on the road globally by 2035. BP predicts 100 million electric cars, or 5 percent of the global car fleet, by that date. Last year, BP predicted 57 million electric cars.

In its recent energy outlook, which forecasts long-term trends and guides BP's internal strategy, the company predicted that global energy demand will grow by nearly a third by 2035. If its predictions came true, fossil fuels would account for 75 percent of the energy mix, down from the 80 percent BP forecast in last year's outlook.

BP predicts that oil demand is not likely to peak until the mid-2040s, according to Dale.

The company's full energy outlook is available at bp.com/energyoutlook.