Among the revelations in OPEC’s just published World Oil Outlook — including, as Gadfly’s Liam Denning has explained, long-term demand for oil and shale production — is a notable change in the cartel’s assumptions about passenger cars. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries expects 137 million fewer of them on the road in 2040 than it did just two years ago.

Admittedly, OPEC still expects a lot of cars – more than two billion of them – but that’s 6 percent less than what it predicted in 2015.OPEC also lowered its projection for the global electric vehicle fleet in 2040, to 235 million from 266 million — a 12 percent drop. That’s about 300 million fewer electric vehicles than my Bloomberg New Energy Finance colleagues expect in the same year.