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Fossil Fuel-Powered Vehicles Are Already On The Decline
With electric vehicle sales soaring, the end is in sight for traditional gas-powered cars
Electric vehicles have become all the hype in the automotive world — Tesla is now the world’s most valuable car manufacturer, and traditional automakers are pouring billions into electrification. But despite this, fossil fuel vehicles¹ still dominate the roads. Electric cars make up just 1% of vehicles on the road as of 2020.
Even still, signs are pointing to the early stages of a transformation in the transportation industry. In fact, fossil fuel vehicle sales are likely to have peaked in 2018.
Data from the International Energy Agency shows an interesting picture. From 2010 to 2016, fossil fuel vehicle sales experienced solid 40% growth. Then, sales abruptly flattened.
Sales increased only slightly over the next two years before falling by about 2.5% in 2019. With the economic havoc caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, sales plunged even further in 2020.
Multiple factors that played a role in the stalled sales— global vehicle sales growth weakened even before the onset of the pandemic. Fossil fuel vehicles will recover at least some of their losses from the pandemic through-out 2021 and 2022.
