Rosneft CEO: EV Boom in the West is Coming to an End

The electric vehicle boom in the West is coming to an end, buyers have become disillusioned with them, said Igor Sechin, Chief Executive Officer of Rosneft, at the XVII Verona Eurasian Economic Forum.

As Sechin said, there are 1.5 billion internal combustion engine vehicles on the world’s roads today, while the introduction of electric vehicles averages only 3% of what will be needed by 2050.

«The electric vehicle boom in the West is coming to an end: lack of demand is forcing leading manufacturers to sell at a loss, and in the US the cost of a used electric vehicle has fallen by 25% in less than two years,» Sechin said in his report, titled «Farewell to Illusions. World Energy in Thucydides’ Trap».

One of the reasons for the decline in demand for electric vehicles, according to the head of the Company, is that the creation of additional generation, networks and charging infrastructure has not been synchronised with the electrification of the car fleet. «And this has already become a headache for owners of electric vehicles,» Igor Sechin added.

He believes that in the future, new electric vehicles will compete for access to electricity with data centres, which will consume more than a thousand terawatt hours of electricity by 2030. «Another major challenge would be to convert freight, air and water transport to electricity. To meet the energy transition goals, the number of electric trucks will need to increase more than 100-fold to more than 40 million by 2050. It is unlikely to happen,» Sechin added.

Rosneft Information Division
Rosneft Oil Company
December 5, 2024