Bloomberg energy reporter Javier Glass has a quick, essential guide to the facts on the ground that will affect the ongoing war in the Gulf.
Bloomberg energy reporter Javier Glass has a quick, essential guide to the facts on the ground that will affect the ongoing war in the Gulf.
After the Arab-Israeli war in 1973, the Arab nations decided to spank the west for backing Israel. So in 1974, OPEC raised the barrel price of oil from $3 to $12 which caused shortages as well as a lots of long lines at the pumps (who remembers the rule of only being allowed to buy gasoline on even-odd days dependant up the last number of your licence plate?). This might have killed off American muscle cars, but many people just accepted the higher prices. Meanwhile, other Americans quietly shifted to more fuel efficient vehicles like those from VW, Toyota, and Honda. I see this oil crisis in a similar way with the only except that, this time, many consumers will shift to either hybrids or EVs.
Mmm, only problem there is that new car prices have doubled in relative terms since then. The average new car in 1973 was the equivalent of about $25K in today’s money. The average is $48K today, and EVs (in the States) aren’t cheap. Add the surging prices in housing, healthcare, education, and insurance, and there aren’t going to be many Americans rushing out to buy new vehicles just because gas prices went up.
We ‘could’ change that by dropping tariffs on Chinese EVs, but I don’t see either party doing that.
The rest of the world will increase its adoption of inexpensive Chinese EVs (including scooters, scooters, scooters), solar/battery kits and RE public power plants.
simply, the rest of the world will accelerate its transition, increasing China’s influence and market share,
while the US falls further behind, unless and until Ford and GM understand the existential nature of their predicament.