Battery electric vehicles save 1.2 million barrels of oil per day, a saving five times higher than in 2021, according to a study released today.
Produced by the international organization Transport & Environment (T&E), the study appears within the context of the UN climate conference, COP31, taking place in Antalya, Turkey, and compares the current situation with that of 2021, at the Glasgow COP26 conference.
Back then, electric cars were substituting only 215,000 barrels of oil per day.
“Five years after COP26, where leaders committed to end the era of fossil-fuel-powered vehicles by 2040, the oil-saving provided by electric vehicles has increased fivefold worldwide,” summarizes T&E in a statement, noting that electrification is one of the themes highlighted at COP31 this year.
By 2034 electric cars could substitute about 5.8 million barrels of oil per day, says T&E, which brings together European non-governmental organizations in the area of transport and environment, promoting sustainable transport.
According to the analysis, battery electric cars represent only 4.2% of the global car fleet, but now account for 25% of all new car sales worldwide—a rise of 6.6 percentage points compared with five years ago.
Trucks still represent less, 1%, but in some countries they exceed 50% of new vehicle sales, and electric buses now account for 5% of the global fleet, according to the organization’s calculations.
T&E asserts that electric cars remain the most effective way to reduce oil demand, improve energy security, and cut emissions, noting that accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles “will be crucial to avoid future oil shocks.”
If in previous conferences the global growth of wind and solar energy was boosted, support for electric vehicles at COP31 “could generate the same progress, drastically reducing oil demand and lowering emissions.”
The 1.2 million barrels of oil per day saved represent 1.2% of global oil consumption, the organization specifies, adding another figure: electric vehicles in circulation prevent the emission of more than 200 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year.
T&E notes that road transport consumes almost half of all global oil, so the transition to electric vehicles is crucial to reduce dependence on oil.
It adds that “with the global fleet of cars and trucks continually growing, electric vehicles are the only brake on the uncontrolled rise in oil demand.”
Cited in the press release, Antony Froggatt, senior director at T&E, says that electric cars are the most effective way to reduce oil demand and that currently the only winners in oil dependence are “the giants of fossil fuels and the petro-states.”
Five years after Glasgow, he notes, electric vehicles represent “one of the clearest victories in global climate history.”
