EVs are the future*
*But what if we can’t reach the future in time?
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Posts
Food vs. fuel: It’s not what you think
Food vs. fuel. It’s an argument you’ve likely heard before, and you’re likely to hear again. People in the world are still going hungry, so we shouldn’t be using crops to make fuel. The corn grown in the United States should be going into the bellies of starving children, not our gas tanks. Read more →
Fuel choice lost
Picture this.
You’re driving down the road and you notice your tank is almost empty — time to fill up. Read more →
Americans need fuel choice
Americans love choice. Whether it’s deciding what kind of car we drive, what type of food we eat for dinner, or which smartphone we use, there’s an abundance of choices. In fact, our country was even built on the premise of being able to choose what religion you practiced.
Festivus for the best of us: Our top 10 grievances about fuel
The United States has been observing Festivus for 18 years now, and this antidote to holiday crassness is vital as ever. As Frank Costanza so aptly described one of its central pillars (in “The Strike,” the episode of “Seinfeld” that originally aired on Dec. 18, 1997):
“The tradition of Festivus begins with the Airing of Grievances. I got a lotta problems with you people! Now you’re gonna hear about ’em!”
Cellulosic ethanol has finally arrived
It’s been the Holy Grail of biofuels for decades, a will-o-the-wisp, always promising great things over the horizon. But it finally seems to have arrived. Cellulosic ethanol, capable of recycling crop wastes into fuel, may be here.
Ethanol allegiance no longer of primary importance for candidates
As the Iowa caucuses shape up for February, one thing is becoming clear: Support for ethanol is no longer a sine qua non for aspiring presidential candidates.
Are the oil majors rigging the free market?
The big oil companies aren’t blind to the threat posed by ethanol. And now it appears they’re doing all they can to hamstring wider access to the fuel by artificially increasing the price of E85 at their gas stations.
6 new fuel technologies that could be game changers
The world is filled with rapidly advancing technologies, and the transportation fuels sector is no exception. A few more innovations like these, and our oil addiction will be a thing of the past.
Tesla has to compete for customers. So should fuels
Americans love their freedom to choose. Someone invents something, and competitors rush in with their own similar products to fight for a market that didn’t exist before.
This is what Tesla has done with the electric vehicle: The Model S is making cold-eyed journalists swoon, and the next few months are huge: The company will soon release its eagerly awaited crossover SUV, the Model X, followed by its more-eagerly awaited “affordable” sedan, the Model 3.
But Tesla shouldn’t get too comfortable, because the established auto-makers want to steal some of its quiet, zero-emission thunder with EVs of their own: In the past week, Toyota unveiled the new Prius, trying to assure everyone it can be cool as well as get 10 percent more miles out of a battery charge; Edmunds gave its blessing for the 2016 Chevy Volt; there was a possible sighting of the 2016 Nissan Leaf, the best-selling EV in the U.S.; and there were rumors that Mercedes-Benz is working on an electric car than has a range of 311 miles.
It’s a basic rule of economics: Competitive markets are good for consumers. Which is why drivers should be demanding fuel choice as well.
Gasoline is cheap now, but it doesn’t take much to cause a price spike: The threat of a supply constriction overseas; a refinery going down (and staying down, in California’s case); output quotas in OPEC nations. Anything can cause volatility in the global market. Businesses don’t like uncertainty, and it’s bad for consumers as well.
The only way to reduce the cost structure of fuels over the long term is to create fuel choice, something the United States has never known. To quote former Shell Oil president John Hofmeister: “We will never get past the volatility of oil until we get to alternatives to oil.”
We’re not advocating an end to fossil fuels. We just want fuel choice: Ethanol, methanol, CNG, LNG, biodiesel, hydrogen and, yes, electric batteries. Anything that reduces our dependence on oil is good for America.
If gasoline, the same fuel we’ve been stuck with for more than a century, is the superior fuel for vehicles, let it compete with other choices at the pump. If oil companies don’t want competition, what are they afraid of?
Related posts:
- Pearson’s CA growth proves there’s demand for E85
- Tesla approaches a moment of truth
- Oil is cheap, so why is gas sky-high in some places?
- Hofmeister: Oil companies actually hate high prices
