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The oil shock is accelerating Asia’s EV revolution
There is no better advert for an electric car than waiting for hours in a tense queue for rationed fuel.
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EVs have already hit solid double-digit market shares in multiple emerging markets, as falling battery costs and tax incentives helped undercut conventional cars.
ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN
DeeperDive is a beta AI feature. Refer to full articles for the facts.
David Fickling
When a supply shock hits a product for which there is no alternative – toilet paper during Covid-19, for instance – there is not much people can do except deal with it. If a ready substitute is waiting in the wings, the outcome can be mass defection.
Think of how American drivers switched to smaller, fuel-efficient Japanese vehicles in the wake of the 1970s oil embargoes. Detroit’s Big Three produced almost half the world’s cars in 1973. They account for well under 10 per cent today.
