Per http://www.americanenergyindependence.com/fuels.aspx "70% of all oil consumed in the U.S. is used for transportation"

Elon Musk isn't building an all electric version of the 787.

It's worth bearing in mind that Airbus does have electric aviation in mind:

http://www.airbusgroup.com/int/en/corporate-social-responsib...

Early days yet, of course, but the groundwork is underway.

I expect commercial aircraft to remain hydrocarbon fueled for the foreseeable future. But jet fuel is only 11% of American transport fuel demand: http://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/?page=us_energy_transport...

(Meaning less than 8% of all American petroleum consumption, given the other poster's 70% figure.)

To me, 11% of all transport fuel demand is a lot! I wonder what the balance is for trains, long haul trucks, are diesel delivery trucks in general are.

Well, I wouldn't bet against him giving it a shot.

Yet

The US is about 25% of the world economy and shrinking fast.

Same for Europe.

EU + US are about 1 Billion of 7.5 Billion people on the planet, many of whom don't have cars, but are about to be able to afford them ...

But for a commodity that's fairly cheap to extract, with production and demand closely balanced and diversified suppliers, even a modest fall in demand can lead to a precipitous collapse in prices as producers fight over market share.