Earlier this year boffins at BP gazed into their crystal ball and came up with the oil giant’s annual energy outlook — how it sees demand holding up until 2035.
There was more than a touch of self-denial about it. BP’s forecast for electric cars — both hybrid and pure battery — was that they would make up just 6% of the global fleet by 2035, about 100m cars. That is up from about 1.2m in 2015.
This is a fancifully low prediction. Most car makers are racing to develop electric models. Volvo’s decision to commit to electric power in all its cars from 2019 is a seminal moment. It does not spell the imminent death of the combustion engine, but it shows that petrol