China’s Shift to Electric Vehicles Set to Accelerate the End of the Oil Era

China’s aggressive shift toward electric vehicles could cut global oil demand growth by as much as 70% by 2030, accelerating the broader decline of the oil era, according to research from think tank Carbon Tracker.

Citing Reuters, the report notes that China could save more than $80 billion annually in oil import costs over the next decade as new energy vehicles (NEVs) become increasingly competitive in the domestic auto market.

The think tank’s calculations were based on the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) “conservative” scenario, under which electric vehicles are projected to account for 40% of total car sales in China and 20% of sales in India and other emerging markets by 2030.

According to Carbon Tracker, the cost of importing oil needed to fuel an average car is roughly ten times higher than the cost of the solar power needed to charge an electric vehicle.

“It’s a simple choice between growing dependence on expensive oil produced by a foreign cartel, or domestic electricity from renewable sources, whose prices keep falling,” said Kingsmill Bond, Carbon Tracker strategist and lead author of the report.