Op-ed: For energy security, think electric vehicles

Notwithstanding newly won status as the world’s largest global oil producer, America’s sway over the global oil market remains incomplete and weak. Worse, it’s reactive, driven above all by politically touchy pump prices. In energy security, the focus continues to be on oil, yet a switch to electric propulsion offers a way out.

An accelerating shift to electric vehicles (EVs) can deliver a decisive break from chronic vulnerability to petroleum production whims. Despite surging domestic oil production, the oil market remains a global one where production cuts or instability in any oil-producing country affect prices everywhere, including right here at home.

It’s also true that for decades to come, oil will remain an essential nonreplaceable commodity. Just consider the fuels vital to air travel, or the feedstock enabling petrochemical production. But EVs hold out the prospect of a largely oil-free future for ground transport — that piece of energy consumption that affects consumers most.

Read the full op-ed here.