High fuel prices, time to look at alternatives?

Is this the turning point?

With oil prices reaching as high as $140 will motorists start to take the alternatives seriously? With the relentless rise of the price at the pump the alternatives such as electric, fuel cell or compressed air start to make sense from both an environmental and financial point of view. Even those who dismiss global warming should be tempted by the cheaper alternatives. There are plently of alternatives out there, so why are we not driving around in electric cars?

The Alternatives

Plenty to choose from

Currently the main alternative technologies are battery based like the G-Wiz, Hybrid like the Toyota Prius , sustainable biofuels such as Flex Fuels, converting hydrogen directly into electricity with Fuel Cells or compressed air as used in the MDI/Tata Air Car.

We already have plently of alternatives to choose from but all of the alternatives have limitations when compared to a petrol or diesel engine. Petrol and diesel are both excellent methods of storing and transporting energy, they are in liquid form and can be easily and safely pumped from one tank (the petrol station) to another (your vehicle). What we need to consider is the "energy density" of the fuel, petrol and diesel are excellent in this respect but batteries are not even close. Its the energy density that affects the range of the vehicle, the range of todays battery powered cars tends to be anywhere between 30 and 120 miles. Nuclear fuel gives us the highest energy density and works great for submarines but would you want to drive on a motorway full of nuclear powered cars and trucks?

Until the various technologies make a major leap forward the most practical alternative is currently the hybrid such as the Toyota Prius , with over 757,000 having been made.

Change takes time

Stopping the oil tanker

The motor industry is just like a large oil tanker and will take time to turn around. Consider that 65 million new cars are made each year in hundreds of factories, it will require a huge investment of both time and money for those factories to shift to a new technology.

Future Oil Prices

Where do we go from here?

Over the last couple of weeks the price of oil has started to fall, but no one can predict future oil prices. The one thing we do know as a fact is that there is a finite supply of oil and demand continues to grow at an alarming rate. Given that the price of oil is driven by supply and demand that would indicate that over the long term prices will continue to rise. Over at the Oil Drum they provide very in depth analysis, articles and reviews regarding the future of oil prices and supply.

last updated 18/06/2008