Quora Question: What’s the Impact of Electric Cars on Oil-Rich Nations?

By Quora Contributor

An all-electric battery concept car called LeSEE is shown during the Auto China 2016 show in Beijing, China on April 25. The author writes that the proliferation of electric vehicles will have devastating effects on many nations.Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters

 If electric vehicles become cheaper with time, what impact will it have on economies of oil-rich countries of the Middle East? Devastating, if they don’t adapt fast enough and invest in their future. However, the decline will be fairly gradual before plateauing and will take a decade, maybe even longer.

Not so fast…

A lot of people think of this change as happening overnight, but there are several factors that people need to take into consideration. Transition to electric transport won’t happen immediately and will take several years.  The electric car industry as a whole is in it’s toddlership right now.

And it is important to understand the time frame of the change in order to understand how it will affect oil producers.  Read more.