Electric vehicles to displace 2.57 mln bpd of oil by 2030: IEA

Electric vehicles are expected to displace about 2.57 million barrels of oil per day by 2030 as the global fleet rises to 130 million by the end of next decade, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a recent report.

The Paris-based agency estimates also indicate that the global stock of electric vehicles is likely to more than triple to 13 million by 2020, up from 3.7 million last year.

Sales are expected to rise 24 percent every year on an average, through 2030, reaching 21.5 million by the end of next decade.

China and Europe will remain the biggest markets, with EVs reaching a market share (or sales share) of 26 percent in China and 23 percent in Europe by 2030, the Paris-based agency said.

In 2017, China was the largest electric car market in the world, accounting for half sold last year. Nearly 580,000 electric cars were sold in China in 2017, a 72 percent increase from the previous year, the agency said.

The United States had the second-highest, with about 280,000 cars sold in 2017, up from 160,000 in 2016.

The EV battery supply market is also expected to undergo a major expansion in the coming years, the report said.

“The estimated additions projected for 2025 would require the construction of roughly 10 battery manufacturing facilities with the production capacity of the Tesla Gigafactory (under construction in Nevada, US),” it added.

Innovations in battery chemistry will also be needed to maintain growth as there are supply issues with core elements that make up lithium-ion batteries, such as nickel, lithium and cobalt, the agency said.

“The supply of cobalt is particularly subject to risks as almost 60 percent of the global production of cobalt is currently concentrated in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” it added.