While I was growing up I was always told that there would never be anything other than gas powered cars on the road because of the power that the oil companies hold. While I realize that the idea of some inventor disappearing off the face of the planet because he will not sell his alternate fuel technology to the oil companies is a little out there, progress in this area has been impossibly slow. Does it not make economic sense for a big oil company to invest in their future, oil is a finite resource there for it will run out some day. At the rate that the US and the World is consuming the stuff that day is coming in short order. But still Exxon, the worlds largest oil refiner, contributes about 1% of its annual 40billion in profit to research and development of new technologies.
Looking at the situation from the outside it would appear that there might be some covert collusion going on between these oil companies. It is the only way to explain slowly evolving technology of batteries, full electric, and hydrogen automobiles. The money that Exxon or another company stands to make in the long run by having the first full network of hydrogen stations, or the first full network of super-fast charging stations for full electric cars is incredible. Demand is growing all the time for these cars especially since everyone wants to appear that they car about the environment.
Creating a partnership with a manufacturer like Toyota or Honda would be beneficial also. Helping to further the technologies and increase demand can only create long term benefits. I do not want to believe that the future lies with some tech toy that makes none of the glorious sounds of an internal combustion engine, but it is the truth. It will be interesting to see how the future of the oil companies evolves, if i were the CEO or in charge of making any decisions at all I would be spending the money on infrastructure now and reap the benefits in the long run. It has reached the point where one of the firms in this market will have to deviate from the collusive group, the incentive is too great!
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The technology of full electric and hydrogen cars is there, and has been for some time. A few years ago I was lucky enough to get to drive the BMW Hydrogen7 at a charity driving event, a car that can run strictly on hydrogen and has no emissions except water. It drove like a normal car, and you wouldn't know it was any different than a normal 7-series BMW. There were two problems with it: It cost over $1 Million to build because it is a limited production build, and the hydrogen stations are not there to support hydrogen vehicles. If the were to invest in hydrogen stations, the technology is available to make cars that would be fully zero emissions. With an increase in production, marginal costs would surely decrease to the point the average person could potentialy afford a hydrogen car. Both the hydrogen stations and production of hydrogen cars needs to come about at the same time because one is no good without the other.
ReplyDeleteI think another aspect of this issue that relates to our class is this: If one firm (whether that is Exxon or someone else) can manage to make the break-through first, they have a chance of monopolizing the market. That is, if a firm finds the ultimate technology for non-gas powered cars, they will start of with being the only supplier in the market. That will give them a huge advantage and the opportunity to try deterring other firms from entering the market. If that happens, it could potentially become a nice example for some of the topics we covered.
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