[Perfectlap]

Originally Posted by thstone

Hah! Did anyone really think that the oil companies where going to sit back and let electric cars gain a foothold in THEIR market?

As long as oil/gas is cheap (or until there is at least a doubling of battery energy density at the same cost) there will be no massive adoption of electric powered cars.

I don't about that. The way I see it gas prices will have to remain below their historical average for an unusually long period of time to keep the car buying market as loyally comitted to ICEs as in the past. And as we know, there is no market, oil or any other commodity for that matter, that stays at the low end indefinitely without a proportional spike to the high end at some point in the medium term. I think at some point Tesla, GM and Japan will deliver the illusive EV that the middle income household can afford. They'll likely do so at a loss but if there is a dramatic increase in EV's at that price point it's a whole new ball game. And of course the autos will pull strings from Washington to keep the subsidies flowing. Point being EVs may never become profitable for the autos but they'll have no choice but to chase the market share or potentially lose out on a future demographic that insist on EVs. You know the millenialls aren't going to be broke forever and they're the first generation to grow up with mass market adoption of technology. If cost is no longer a barrier these recent generations of buyers will come to expect electric technology in their cars.