(Reuters) Fuel efficiency in new light vehicles is having a bigger impact on fuel demand than rising sales of electric vehicles, BP Chief Executive Bernard Looney said at an energy conference on Tuesday.
As old vehicles in the world's 1.4 billion fleet of light vehicles are scrapped, newer vehicles with higher mileage per unit of gasoline have taken their place.
"That is locked in, and that's having a bigger impact on oil demand than electric vehicles," Looney said at the CERAWeek energy conference. Around 3 percent of the global vehicle fleet is EVs, he said.
The world's vehicle fleet is expected to grow to 2.2 billion vehicles by 2040, with much of the growth coming from China and India, he said.
With more efficient vehicles and many more electric vehicles on the road, fuel demand could fall by 5 million to 10 million barrels per day by 2040, Looney said. The existing global light vehicle fleet consumes about 32 million bpd, he said. That accounts for around a third of global oil demand.
