Lubricants (world market)

2019: The boom of electric vehicles will destroy the whole industry

On November 18, 2019 the Bloomberg agency put article devoted to a negative impact of electric vehicles on the market of lubricants which amount is estimated more than at $146 billion.

Electric cars need 50-70% less lubricant for spare parts in comparison with the machines equipped with the internal combustion engines (ICE) the analyst of Bank of America of Merrill Lynch Jean-Baptiste Rolland estimates.

Bloomberg put article devoted to a negative impact of electric vehicles on the market of lubricants which amount is estimated more than at $146 billion

According to him, the industry of lubricant cooling liquids can decline in 2025 because of the growing penetration of electric vehicles in China and Europe.

To this falling some producers already began to prepare and implement special lines for electric vehicles. For example, Shell developed liquids for hybrid cars, own brand was announced also by Petronas, and Total in 2018 started two lines of lubricants for electric cars.

Fuchs and Castrol created special international teams of managers and researchers which focused on development and promotion of lubricants for electric vehicles. Also producers master the new formulas increasing efficiency of lubricant.

In the publication it is said that the fate of Kodak company which did not manage to react to changes in the market of cameras and went bankrupt can wait for producers of lubricants. However market participants adhere to other point of view.

However the technical director of Fuchs Petrolub Lutz Lindemann doubts reduction of sales of lubricants, considering that only in China the number of cars with DVS in 10 years can grow from 260 million in 2019 to 350 million Besides, development of specialized highly effective lubricants for vehicles with electric draft will lead to more profitable sales, he considers.^[1]

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