The advance of electric cars continues unabated and a significant milestone in their evolution is already being announced. According to China's state-owned oil company Sinopec, China's gasoline demand will peak this year, two years ahead of schedule. Starting next year, according to the announcement, gasoline demand in the Asian giant will begin to fall. This is not just any projection, as Bloomberg stresses. Sinopec is China's largest fuel distributor and, therefore, a profound connoisseur of the market.

The announcement is relevant given that, due to its size, the Chinese market is one of the markets that most influences the demand for refined fuels.

The reason for the expected drop in gasoline demand in China is the boom in electric vehicle sales in that country. Estimates from the China Passenger Vehicle Association suggest that 38% of vehicle sales in August were electric units, up from 6% at the end of 2020. This is also influenced by the fact that newer internal combustion engines are more efficient.

According to BloombergNEF, gasoline demand for two- and three-wheelers has already begun to decline: 70% of the mileage driven by these vehicles is accounted for by electric models. Now it will be the turn of passenger vehicles: the electric passenger vehicle fleet has already surpassed 5%, a milestone from which the gradual but massive adoption of new technologies usually begins, according to marketing specialists.

A curious fact: Sinopec highlights the effect of the growth of chauffeur-driven car services such as Uber or Didi. Forty percent of the vehicles used by these types of applications - and 50% of the kilometers traveled - are electric. In addition to having lower operational costs, there are public policies that push the adoption of electric vehicles by these applications: 22 Chinese cities require new vehicles for these services to be electric or hybrid.