>> The start of the year was marked by a jump in sales of electric vehicles in France. In January, they represented 8% of the market, four times more than usual. But why such a success? According to the Europe 1 economic columnist, Axel de Tarlé, it is the hardening of standards for "classic" cars that encourages switching to all-electric.
In January, sales of electric cars in France represented more than 8% of the market, against less than 2% usually for pure electric. And if we add the hybrid models, we even approach 20% of sales. What happened then? It's simple: the standards have been tightened. Both for manufacturers, who since January 1 are penalized with very heavy fines if they exceed 95 grams of CO₂ per km on average for their car, and for customers, with a reinforced automobile penalty, up to 20,000 euros.
Last month, therefore, we witnessed so-called tactical sales: sales of electric cars were pushed back to the maximum in January to lower the manufacturers' CO₂ average. The month of January is thus atypical, but not necessarily representative. It still shows the power and effectiveness of standards to change habits.
What future for oil companies?
This is also the meaning of a report from a British think tank which has just been published on the future of oil companies. According to the latter, with all these alarming climatic episodes, we can very well imagine that within four or five years, the populations will demand very strong measures against fossil fuels, with new very restrictive standards.
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The demand for oil will then slow down or even fall, with the key - it is the law of the market -, a fall in oil prices, at a price such (for example 20 or 30 dollars per barrel) that many oil fields will no longer be profitable. This ecological think tank, "Carbon Tracker", therefore warns investors against oil companies: be careful, black gold could well turn into lead.
Everything is going very quickly in terms of the environment, as the awareness is acute. This is the well-known principle in action-reaction physics: the more the climate changes, the more we demand strong solutions.