The Oil Companies Aren’t Going Down Easily, But….
A reader notes on a recent post about electric transportation:
We can think all day, as long as we keep in mind that Oil cartels are not quite ready to surrender a $multi-trillion industry.
The solar industry is just now getting some traction, but its technology remained static for decades. That was no accident. The oil industry paid solar to go away, which is how a solar panel does not progress in four decades. The electric-car industry will not be SET FREE. It will instead be incrementally allowed to progress, as Big Oil repositions itself. Any contention that a juggernaut like global oil cartels will not flex their muscles to quash the electric car industry is naive.
Oh, they’re not going down without a fight. But they are going down. Here’s why: There is no power on Earth, regardless of how corrupt and malicious, that can get people to pay more for an inferior product. That’s what would be required to reverse what’s happening here with the ever-plummeting price of solar, wind, and electric transportation. This, of course is the theme of my most recent book: Bullish on Renewable Energy.
Ironically, we’ll get where we need to be re: clean energy and transportation whether we give a damn about the environment or not, as the pressures of pure market economics alone are proving sufficient to push this in the right direction–and in a considerable hurry.
Craig,
Oh dear, I’m afraid your reader is a misinformed conspiracy theorist and just tad more than lazy in his research !
Both solar panels and the modern electric car were pioneered by the oil industry !
For many decades BP in particular financed and was at one time the only and then biggest producer of Solar panels !
The modern electric car is only possible due to having a lithium-ion battery. The lithium-ion battery was developed in an EXXON laboratory.
Oil companies don’t give a damn about EV’s. The EV market will remain very small for years to come and even then is only prominent in the passenger car market. (although buses and some delivery vehicles are possible).
EV’s remain heavily dependent on government subsidies. In Hong Kong, which should be a great place for EV’s, once the subsidy was reduced EV sales disappeared.
Even in Norway, the world’s leading EV market, oil consumption has actually risen.
Craig, you are quite correct, the future of EV’s is development of ESD technology. Once an EV can equal the convenience of ICE, and even at at slight premium, EV’s will start to dominate.
But until then, while ESD capacity continues to be restricted, EV’s will remain niche vehicles dependent on government programs to stay in business.