They would almost certainly impact the oil market as a whole.

Electric vehicles have been a contentious topic in the UK for quite some time.

For their detractors they are maligned due to safety issues regarding the batteries, and in particular environmental issues have been cited concerning the production and consumption of batteries.

The production of lithium is required in the manufacture of batteries and they carry with them issues concerning degradation.

There are other concerns related to managing the overall energy profile from electric vehicles. Electricity in the UK is produced from a mixture of nuclear, on and offshore wind and gas.

To move the UK (let alone any other nation) to a profile closer 100% electric vehicles would mean a substantial uptake in the amount of energy produced by the grid.

While smart electric vehicle charging solutions exist, they still require a gross capacity to feed the demand of what could be circa 30 million plus vehicles.

Therefore the issue of capacity is one that would have to be met with a substantial increase in net electricity production, with capacity management systems likely to help by enabling smart technology solutions that meet demand with instant charging.

However the impact on global oil markets should electric or hydrogen vehicles become the norm would be dramatic.

Transport comprises over 60% of petroleum usage and a cross-sector move away from oil would kill off the oil sector as an essential part of modern life, or at least would reduce its importance (though that is far away given current technological progress).

As a result in the long-term electric vehicles and related technologies would cripple the importance of oil exporters (oil would remain an essential component in other sectors such as petrochemicals) and could potentially have unintended consequences similar to the rise of the US franking industry.