00:00Ewan Graham is Senior Energy Analyst at Ember. Ewan, welcome to the program.
00:06So EVs have helped countries avoid using $20 billion worth of oil.
00:11Just how significant is that number?
00:15So yeah, it's a meaningful saving in such a heightened supply crisis.
00:22And it's worth saying that's just in the six months since the start of the Hormuz energy crisis.
00:27Every new electric car means less energy vulnerability for countries and it means savings for consumers.
00:37And they're not a one-off measure. These cars last for 15 years or so.
00:42So it's a really long-term energy security strategy, especially for oil importing countries around the world.
00:51China alone accounts for $14 billion of those savings.
00:55How does that reflect on the country's EV fleet and green transition strategy?
01:02Yeah, so certainly part of the reason why that number is such a large share of the overall total
01:09is that China just has a very large car fleet overall.
01:12It's a very large country.
01:14But it also does speak to the consistent policy direction that has led to electric vehicles being such an affordable
01:24and popular technology in China.
01:28It's worth highlighting as well that if the research looked beyond just cars,
01:33that number would be even bigger.
01:35Looking at trucks and electric two-wheelers as well,
01:38China is very much a pioneer in the adoption of electric vehicles in those sectors too.
01:45So is reducing oil dependence now one of the strongest reasons to accelerate the EV transition?
01:53Absolutely.
01:53And it's something that we're seeing in some sense from consumers as well, not just governments.
02:00So consumers are responding to high fuel prices by looking for alternatives,
02:06and electric vehicles are a number one alternative.
02:10So we're seeing in countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Chile and India,
02:15we're seeing large pickups since the Hormuz energy crisis that's very consumer-driven.
02:21And then we're seeing on top of that elsewhere, governments really rethinking how they're planning
02:29for future energy demand and their transport sectors as well.
02:34And as a result, we're seeing outside of the US and China, sales of EVs increased by 40% so
02:42far this year
02:43compared to last year.
02:44Yeah, I just wanted to ask you about the US.
02:46The share of new cars that are fully electric there is actually falling.
02:50What's the reason behind that?
02:53So in October of last year, the US rolled back its EV policy.
03:01And as a result, the US is now really, it's basically standing still on EV adoption.
03:07It's slightly fallen.
03:09And at the same time as that, there's been this rapid growth elsewhere.
03:13So really, the bottom line is the longer the US stands still, the more that other countries
03:18will begin to overtake.
03:20We've seen a total of 15 countries overtake the US in terms of electric car adoption so
03:27far this year.
03:28And I think it's really notable that these are some of them are big car manufacturers themselves,
03:34like Brazil and India.
03:36And I would also not be surprised if Japan overtakes later this year, too.
03:41Thanks, Ewan.
03:42Ewan Graham, Senior Energy Analyst at Ember.
03:45Thank you for those insights.
03:45And back to you, Jeff.
