The Beginning of the End - Is the automotive age, as we have known it, over?

I hope not to be one who readily assumes a grievous tone as they portend of a dire future only to drop whatever the current subject may be on a dime for a new paradigm every time the headlines change. Remember how in the 70s we were running out of oil? Now, as the planet warms, we can't run out of it fast enough. But with oil at 122 dollars a barrel and rising and our dwindling oil supplies having the potential to send the global economy into a tailspin, it's obvious that game-changing events are quickly closing upon us.

The current crisis does not necessarily spell the end of the automotive age as we know it, not yet, but it just may be the beginning of the end. And one has to say, finally! As much as I enjoy the rush of a gasoline powered acceleration, you have to ask yourself why, with all the technological advances we've had since 1885 (and from first flight to the moon within 66 of those years), is humanity still stuck with this primitive propulsion system we've had for over 120 years? Namely, the internal combustion engine.

Even before the food crisis, we had ample science telling us the agricultural math just didn't add up for growing bio-fuels such as ethanol or bio-diesel. We couldn't possible make anything beyond a single-digit percentage dent in our use of fossil fuels. The EU has a proposal to have bio-fuels make up 10 percent of supplies by 2020 but the European Environment Agency has asked the EU to suspend the plan fearing it may cause unintended consequences in food supplies and won't do much to address the rising emissions which are the cause of global warming. Bio-fuels emit less CO2 than carbon-based fuels, but their use alone, with all their limitations and our ever growing total emissions, wouldn't have much of an impact on global warming.

So what are the alternatives? Hydrogen? Battery-Electric? A giant windmill on the roof of your car? Well, actually, all of those technologies are electric propulsion. Hydrogen-powered cars convert the energy into electricity to drive the car and batteries simply store electricity from an outside source. Even the windmill would have to deliver power to a battery unless you were into funky transmission systems. So, the only question is how we produce the electricity that will power those cars. Solar and wind are as environmentally friendly as we can get and the only drawback seems to be our own unwillingness to invest in these technologies.

The main limitation in this regard is the ability of batteries to store enough energy to power a car for 500 kilometers or so and have re-charging be as quick and convenient as gassing up a car is today. But improvements in battery technology are coming along, however slowly. Tesla Motors, the California start-up making an electric roadster claims the car can run up to 400km on a single charge. You will have to give up the rush of a rumbling engine for the low-key, baritone droning sound of and electric acceleration with tons of torque. And you'll be giving up the horsepower and the romance that comes with it. But so what? I mean, riding a horse is fun but I'm not going to be using one to get to work.

The good news is that you don't have to give up the concept of an automobile. We can still live in a world that affords you the comfort, convenience, mobility and enjoyment of your own set of wheels. It will just be powered with technology from the 21^st century instead of the 19^th.