Shell CEO predicts more efficient cars will grow popular with car buyers

The CEO of Royal Dutch Shell Plc expects electric cars will become more popular with car buyers in the near future.

Speaking at The Wall Street Journal's ECO:nomics conference in Santa Barbara, Peter Voser said that "Between now and 2050, we will go from 1 billion cars to 2 billion cars worldwide. We think that by 2050, roughly 40 percent of those 2 billion cars will be electric."

The chief executive of one of the world's largest petrochemical companies said that his company was investing 25% of its research and development budget into renewables such as wind power and bio fuels.

Shell has recently heavily invested in the prospects of ethanol-fuelled cars, striking a deal with Brazilian company Cosan to create a $21 billion per year ethanol joint venture. This deal would create almost 4,500 ethanol filling stations across the South American nation.

Voser's speech emphasised that the automobile industry needed to give car buyers vehicles that can meet the challenges of rising costs for gasoline production, making use of technological improvements in alternative power sources. Over the next 40 years, he said that there was "room and space" for the market to develop low-carbon fuels, more efficient engines and hybrid vehicles.

Reuters reports that automobile manufacturers are racing to launch electric cars to provide environmentally friendly transportation for the future. Already, the products of smaller companies such as Tesla Motors or hybrid vehicles from large companies have had an impact on gasoline in developed countries such as the United States.

If industry predictions are correct, then over the next few decades, selling a car could increasingly depend on the efficiency of the engine - or its ability to use alternative fuels.

Lee Pearce, Hertfordshire, Vauxhall Corsa

Mrs Jackie Davey, Kent, KIA SORENTO XE AUTO 2009 ESTATE