Shell’s CEO Announces His Next Car Will Be An Electric

It’s not every day that a titan of industry commits publicly to a certain brand. But as the automotive industry hurdles toward an electric future, Shell CEO, Ben Van Beurden, is switching from a diesel car to a plug-in hybrid Mercedes-Benz S500e, according to Autoblog. Now he’s not going out and buying a Nissan Leaf. The S500e holds its own with 436-combined-horsepower that can top 0-60 in 5.2 seconds. It’s not like Shell will quit drilling for oil but it’s definitely a sign of the shift ahead in the automotive market. Oil companies have made it known that they think man-made global warming is real and that a move away from fossil fuel is a given.

Economists used to think we’d reach peak supply where the world would deplete its oil resources. Now they think we’ll hit peak demand where oil consumption starts a steep downhill slide and companies like Shell don’t bother to drill for the remaining reserves. Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicts that a third of the world’s cars will be plug-in by 2040. How do you feel about even oil industry leaders heading toward the electric side? Is there no hope for gas-powered vehicles?

This week Katie’s guest is 11-year-old Chase Johnson and his 300 horsepower Pro Mod Camaro. Chase and his dad will share how he started racing Go Karts at the age of 5. He moved into Quarter Midgets and won 33 wins last year alone! Now he’s moved up to the Pro Mod division and at the time we taped this story, he had already placed in the top 3. It’s an amazing story you have to see this weekend on PowerNation.