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There is a major blind spot that the author fails to address: All vehicles (ICE or EV) have a heavy dependence on petroleum products such as plastics, lubricant
by khn1 9y ago
There is a major blind spot that the author fails to address: All vehicles (ICE or EV) have a heavy dependence on petroleum products such as plastics, lubricants, and synthetic rubber. While I believe that EV's are the future, I do not think their success implies the fall of Big Oil.
- saagarjha 9y agoThose are minor uses, though.
- diafygi 9y agoA whopping 5% of oil isn't burned[1]. Take away burning oil, and your industry is 20x smaller. Not so big anymore. [1]: https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm/index.cfm?page=oil_use https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm/index.cfm?page...
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- wmf 9y ago~60% of oil is used for transportation fuel, so there will be a big impact if that goes away. Oil reserves will also last much longer once oil isn't needed for transportation.
- dbaupp 9y agoThe amounts differ by an order of magnitude, or maybe even two. E.g. the EIA says 9.3k barrels/day is consumed as motor gasoline (more than half of all consumption of finished products, and the next largest categories are also burn-the-oil, possibly including 3.6k barrels/day of diesel fuel) whereas only 323 barrels/day go to petrochemical feedstocks. https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_cons_psup_dc_nus_mbblpd_a.htm https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_cons_psup_dc_nus_mbblpd_a.h...
- mark-r 9y agoThe author acknowledges this, and says oil usage will decline but not go away. Oil is used for a lot more than gasoline. But the contraction of the market will put a lot of companies in a world of hurt.