Truck Articles

Trends are transient, constantly being replaced by new trends. Arguably more electric automobiles existed at the turn of the 20th Century than petrol-powered ones. As it turns out, the oil booms in the 1920s led to a mass adoption of the internal combustion engine, and by the 1990s, no car maker dared more than to just dabble, without considering mass production. But you cannot halt the progress of technology, especially when financial pain is involved.

From 1980s to 2003, the international oil price hovered around 35 dollars a barrel and those were the dayswhen prices of your local pumps were barely a dollar per litre. Beginning in 2003 however, speculators (buoyed by political instability) caused the price of oil to skyrocket at an unprecedented rate, peaking at a historical record of 147 dollars per barrel in 2008. It took a global recession to reduce demand enough for the price to tumble. But less than a year later, the price surge is back with a vengeance.

Every oil company is very evasive when it comes to the question of how much fuel is there in the ground. Even though no one on earth can accurately tell you how much oil reserves are left in the planet, there are always clear signs to signify the level of worldwide availability. Companies (and countries) will go to enormous lengths to protect supplies, as witnessed in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Spill. In fact in the same year, the International Energy Agency reported that based on a 4-year observation, that we reached Peak Oil in 2006.

Given that the majority of our fuel source has been in decline since 2006, it is an official confirmation that cheap oil is gone for good. As of March 3rd, 2011, the addition of the Arab world uprisings had pushed the oil price up to 102 dollars a barrel. While nothing goes up for ever in the markets, it’s almost certain that we will never see the price drop to 35 dollars a barrel ever again…unless demand for oil stops suddenly.

Yes, there is such thing as unconventional oil that we can tap into. Some of the examples include coal-to-fuel, gas-to-fuel and oil sands. However, the production processes behind these sources are so much more energy intensive than conventional oil they will always remain as a supplementary niche to the total fuel production.

Consumers will ultimately be the winners. Seeing as every major motor manufacture on earth: Toyota, Nissan, BMW, Ford, and even GM to just name a few, have all announced their line-up of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles due to release this decade. So if you are ever looking to purchase a new car, it will be wise to consider one that will use as little fuel as possible, or if better, none at all. And that goes out for anyone looking for a used car as well.

If you’re looking for an electric car for sale you’ll also need automobile insurance because electric and hybrid cars can be expensive to repair.

Apr092011

Tags: alternative fuels, automobiles, cars, electric cars, global economics, lifestyle, motoring, peak oil, transport, transportation, Trucks

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