Australians are really getting on board with electric cars but the number of electric bikes has also exploded – and data suggests the smaller EVs are having a bigger impact on oil demand.

Electric vehicles as a whole displaced about 1.5m barrels of oil a day globally in 2022, according to Bloomberg. Two-thirds of that – almost 1m barrels a day – was just from electric bikes and mopeds, which are known as electric micromobility. Electric cars were responsible for a little over a sixth, with the remainder accounted for by vans, trucks and buses.

In 2021, Australia consumed about 1m barrels of oil a day across all sectors of the economy. The International Energy Agency IEA estimates that electric vehicles could displace 5m barrels of oil a day by 2030.

A huge part of electric micromobility’s impact is due to its scale – there were almost 300m two- and three-wheeled electric vehicles globally in 2022, compared with around 26m electric cars. More than 95% of the two-wheelers are located in China, according to the IEA.

Australian electric car sales in the year to March were 98,436 – double that of the year before – and the number of charging stations also grew by more than 75%. Meanwhile, Australians bought more than 193,000 ebikes last year, according to Bicycle Industries Australia.

Ebikes won’t replace a car for a lot of people, but they are often well-suited for shorter trips and the “last kilometre” – the distance between home and the nearest public transport. Experts have calculated that charging an ebike to travel 20km a day, five days a week, only costs about $20 annually – although the bikes themselves can be expensive.