David E. Lane
U85-5550 The Politics of Oil
Graduate Program in International Affairs
Washington University in St. Louis
Spring Semester 2006
Introduction
A single day’s news reflects the broader ramifications of U.S. dependence on fossil fuels. Securitization of oil and energy supplies is a major focus of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and around the globe, but these efforts have a far greater cost than just what we see at the pump. Military operations in Iraq alone have cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars but rather than making Americans safer, the occupation has become a catalyst for anti-American sentiments in the Middle East and beyond. For reasons such as these, it would seem prudent to begin a national transition towards decreased petroleum dependence
.
The military, petrochemical arena (plastics, pesticides), and the aviation industry are all sectors where petroleum needs are vital and for which no large scale viable alternative exists. Electricity generation from oil, once largely based upon petroleum, is now down to an almost negligible 2% nationwide (EIA 2004).
These sectors do not comprise the largest area of demand for oil even when combined. It is personal transportation alone that accounts for over 60% of all petroleum consumed in the U.S. (Klare 2004, 193).
Addressing alternative fuel Vehicles Afvs Fleet">vehicle fuel efficiency is therefore the key to making a difference. Other alternatives such as public transport, walking, and bicycling, are useful but cannot compare to the impact that vastly improved automobile efficiency would make. With nearly 200 million vehicles, the U.S. is the largest consumer of oil in the world. The size of the country with its many population centers still relatively conducive to a mix of personal automobiles and public transportation precludes the likelihood of citizens abandoning cars en masse in favor of public transport. Energy costs are increasing, but most of the country is unlikely to face the same set of constraints a citizen of Tokyo or Paris faces that make ownership of a car unappealing. Personal automobiles, with their promise of unlimited mobility seem deeply ingrained into the American psyche.
The Essay on Fuel Oil Petroleum Nuclear Energy
Limited Petroleum Reserves: Is Nuclear Energy an Alternative The twentieth century has been the age of petroleum. Oil in its various refined derivative forms, such as gasoline, kerosene, and diesel fuel, has a unique combination of many desirable and useful characteristics. These include a current availability in abundance, a currently high net energy recovery, a high energy density, ease of ...
In analyzing any potential new fuel source, it is essential to know how much energy is returned on energy invested, its “EROEI”. Another way of expressing this is to ask whether a given alternative energy is economical to acquire, refine, transport, store and use. This includes looking at all points in the chain, from its source (fossil fuel or plant-based) to its refinement and transportation processes. Once all these factors are considered, then based on comparative analysis, the question of whether it is viable and economical can be answered.
Natural Gas
Compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquid natural gas (LNG) vehicles represent a relatively mature technology. They’ve been used successfully for years on inner city bus lines where clean exhaust is paramount. This is a highly appropriate implementation for CNG and LNG, but there are several issues which may diminish the likelihood of natural gas gaining widespread acceptance for personal vehicles.
Public filling stations are currently few and far between; 135 in California, and 600 nationwide. Coupled with the fact that the range of natural gas cars is about 40% less than an equivalent internal combustion car, many people are reluctant to risk driving them and getting caught stranded.
Recently, natural gas home refueling units have been introduced which may broaden the market appeal of natural gas somewhat, but there are drawbacks. The home units which tap into the household gas lines are expensive ($5000) and require a full eight hours to refuel.
The Essay on Hydrogen Fuel Cell Benefits And Limitations
... -percent energy efficiency. Convenience: A car could run a while on hydrogen without going to a power station. The future of the fuel-cell ... a byproduct. Even though currently engineers are concentrating on producing hydrogen from natural gas, it will be for a short-term. Scientists are ...
Perhaps most significantly though, reserves of natural gas in the U.S. are not sizable enough to contend for large scale replacement of petrol fuel. The US has just 3% of the world’s known natural gas reserves (NGSA 2004).
Natural gas currently plays an essential role in home use and in electric power generation. In the power source mix for California’s electrical grid, natural gas accounts for 48%, so demands on this resource are already quite high (PG&E 2004).
Depending on natural gas for widespread use in personal automobiles would represent a continued reliance on a finite fossil fuel largely imported from other nations. Most of the issues that plague oil dependency are replicable with natural gas.
Hydrogen and Fuel Cells
hydrogen fuel cell technology has been catapulted onto the alternative fuel world stage with such enthusiasm that it would seem to contain more than a seed of hope to addressing our future energy needs. Running automobiles on an unlimited supply of water containing hydrogen captures imaginations. This particular alternative fuel technology, however, may be a case of what most scientists and engineers come know, that is, most any technological feet is possible, but at what cost? The more critical aspects of cost and viability in real world applications outweigh the novelty of the achievement.
Hydrogen may be used in an internal combustion engine configured to run on liquid hydrogen though most of the talk is about using hydrogen in fuel cells to generate electricity. A fuel cell is an electromechanical device which uses hydrogen combined with oxygen to produce electricity. That electricity, in turn, drives the electric motors that propel the car. Fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) are thus electric vehicles.
Fuel cells were a part of the Apollo Mission in 1964, employed to run the onboard electronics of the lunar module, yet in the intervening years since they have gained little ground in real world automotive applications. Honda has leased a single FCV to a carefully screened Southern California family. This is the only Honda FCV being driven by any non industry citizen in the country. They refuel at a plant nearby, one of a handful in the country. It has a range of 120 miles and costs a prohibitive $1,000,000 (Hakim 2005).
The Essay on Differences Between Fossil Fuel And Renewable Energy
One of the great issues facing world in the 21st century is how best to obtain the energy for supporting operations: heat and light, transportation, production and delivery of goods and services. Fossil fuel supplies nearly 90 percent of the energy, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. In contrast, only %5 is provided by renewable energy. There are several differences between fossil fuel ...
The source for hydrogen can be water, the most abundant resource in the world as advocates of this technology will point out. Hydrogen exists nowhere in a pure state, however, and must be isolated from compounds that contain a hydrogen element. This process is energy intensive. Obtaining hydrogen from water requires splitting the molecule apart via electrolysis. This is the second most common method for obtaining hydrogen. Currently the lion’s share (95%) of all hydrogen produced in the U.S. comes from natural gas (Bookhart 2003) through a process called steam methane reforming (SMR).
Why is hydrogen overwhelmingly derived from natural gas, and not water? The answer lies in the cost of procuring hydrogen through energy-intensive electrolysis. Acquisition through electrolysis of water may become more appealing when scarcity and higher costs of natural gas alter the equation. Using electricity generated from renewable sources is possible as advocates suggest, but this is an inefficient use of that electricity when compared with other alternatives. Even with SMR, hydrogen is not economical enough to meet U.S. Department of Energy cost targets for widespread automobile use (NYSERDA 2004).
When we consider hydrogen’s prospects as an alternative fuel today, we are essentially dealing with continued natural gas dependency as a feedstock for the fuel plus additional energy required to extract the hydrogen element.
The logic in using natural gas or other energy sources to create hydrogen when instead those sources could be used directly to power a vehicle seems questionable. Introducing an added step—converting natural gas or electrolyzing water—requires more energy. The energy will come from fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas, oil, or renewables, but some of it will be lost in producing a new energy carrier, hydrogen, interloping where the original energy may have been spent more efficiently.
Beneath the clamor of those touting hydrogen and fuel cells as the next great hope are sober voices. Toyota Motor Corp USA’s top fuel cell expert, Bill Reinert, has stated that FCVs are at least 25 years away from possible mass production at the earliest (Truett 2005).
The Essay on Hybrid Vehicles
The 21st century is considered as the time for more advance development and innovation of the human society. Prior to this era, mankind has already been busy with making ground-breaking design to significantly improve how people live their lives. However, due to changing times, these actions have resulted to some consequences that initiated changes for the better and for the worse. Some of the ...
Joseph Romm, an assistant energy secretary during the Clinton administration, has said that the likelihood of FCVs supplanting internal combustion engines is several decades away or possibly never. A report by the International Energy Agency allows that if major advances occur to decrease the cost of hydrogen production and a multitude of technological issues are resolved, by 2025 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles may only account for 30% of the new car market (Dixon 2005, 7-8).
Ethanol and Flex Fuel Design
Flex fuel vehicles are capable of running on ethanol, methanol or gasoline in any combination. This has been the route taken in the Brazil where many of its vehicles are flex fuel endowed. Owners have the option to fill up with one or the other depending upon price and convenience. The technology employed in flex fuel systems is surprisingly simple, and requires only a few minor modifications to gasoline engines such as replacing seals and gaskets with rubber compounds that won’t break down under ethanol. The cost for this added capability is presently less than $200 per vehicle. (Woolsey and Luft 2006, 2).
Ethanol produced from grain or sugar cane is a growing market particularly in the Brazilian example, where an estimated 28% of vehicles sold last year were capable of running ethanol (Obama 2005).
The EROEI in the case of corn-based ethanol such as that produced here in the United States generates less appealing results than in Brazil’s sugar cane-based example. Its total energy efficiency is nearly a one to one ratio. It can take seven gallons of petroleum to produce eight gallons of ethanol (Klare 2004, 195) Sugar cane’s ratio is more favorable, but climate conditions in the U.S. do not support its growth.
Ethanol is sold in the U.S. as a mixture of 15% gasoline and 85% ethanol known as E85. There are already over 1.1 million light duty trucks/SUVs and 115,000 passenger cars in the U.S. that are flex fuel capable, mostly from General Motors and Ford. The E85 refueling infrastructure, however, is minimal with less than a couple hundred stations nationwide and just two stations for the state of California (NHTSA 2001).
General Motor’s current advertising campaign emphasizes the existence of their flex fuel vehicle program. It would appear GM is taking significant steps away from petroleum dependency and GM wins points in terms of its “green” credentials with this, yet a there are two aspects to this which detract from their reputation and success. First, it is a very minor investment for GM to create E85 capable vehicles. Secondly, without a truly widespread ethanol infrastructure to support existing vehicles, any impact on petroleum dependency is severely constrained. The vast majority of flex fuel vehicles cannot take advantage of their ethanol capability and instead run only on gasoline. Developing the infrastructure to support flex fuel vehicles is essential for ethanol to fulfill a greater role as an alternative fuel.
The Term Paper on Electric Cars
Electric car is basically a type of automobile which uses electric motor rather than a gasoline engine for impulsion or forward motion, while these cars are basically the automobiles power-driven by electricity and is used by the people for transportation purpose. Different type of onboard battery packs are used for providing power to these electric motors. Normally these cars come under the ...
I submit that ethanol alone does not offer a considerable benefit towards decreasing our energy needs. Perhaps by lowering the overall demand for liquid fuel in vehicles by using ultra efficient next generation plug-in hybrids, the role of ethanol as a component in the system may offer more substantial benefits.
Biodiesel
At the Paris World Exhibition of 1900 Rudolph Diesel ran his early engine not on petroleum diesel but on peanut oil (Nitske and Wilson 1965).
Today, newer diesel engines (post 1994) may run on a variety processed plant oils without modification to the engine. Such diesel cars are by their nature, duel-fuel vehicles which may run on plant-based biodiesel, petroleum diesel, or any combination.
Biodiesel uses any vegetable oil and through a chemical process called transesterification alters the viscosity to become like that of standard diesel fuel (Briggs 2004, 4).
Biodiesel can be produced from a variety of crops with high EROEI ratios. (Briggs 2004) It can also be mixed with petroleum diesel in any ratio and is supported with existing refueling infrastructure.
Biodiesel is not to be confused with waste vegetable oil found in restaurants, often the subject of novel reports in the media. Requiring much filtration prior to use and available in quantities too small to supplant petroleum fuel, waste vegetable oil has little to offer on a wide scale.
In the West Los Angeles area alone there are two locations within four miles that sell biodiesel, though this is by no means representative of the rest of the country yet. One of these locations is a conventional gas station, offering biodiesel along side standard diesel at roughly the same price. Just outside the Los Angeles International Airport is a car rental agency, “Bio-Beatle” which rents biodiesel Volkswagens. Biodiesel’s potential it seems, is real, viable, and cost competitive.
The Term Paper on Alternative Vehicle Fuel Sources
Alternative Vehicle Fuel Sources For last years there is a tendency to increasing the number of vehicles in the United States. According to National Household Travel Survey this number tripled from 1969 to 2001. The same tendency is noticed in other progressive countries. Almost all of them use hydrocarbon fuels. But the sources of hydrocarbon fuels will come to end; and, most of all, carbon ...
Hybrids
A hybrid vehicle is driven by a combination of an electric motor with a gas engine. The gas engine recharges the batteries along with energy captured from regenerative braking. Though most Americans became familiar with hybrids through the success of the Toyota Prius, much of the hybrid technology was developed stateside. It’s surprising to know that hybrid drive had its beginnings in the railroad industry. Since the mid 1920s there have been hybrid diesel-electric trains, employing a diesel engine to power an electric generator to electric motors which turn the wheels of the locomotive (Owen 1968).
The concept of regenerative braking where braking energy is no longer lost as heat but recaptured to charge the batteries, was developed by GM engineers for the all electric EV1 in the mid nineties. (Shnayerson 1996).
Nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries like those of the Toyota Prius hybrid, were also first used in the GM EV1. Today’s hybrids represent a successful marriage of electric vehicle design with conventional but usually smaller internal combustion engines.
Hybrid sales have risen every year since they were introduced and are indeed a boon for the automotive industry. They’ve achieved gains in fuel economy over conventional vehicles, though some qualifications on this point are worth discussing. The first hybrid was the 70 mpg Honda Insight introduced in 1999. Since then numerous others have come to market while the overall fuel economy has, surprisingly, declined. Todays’s Honda Accord hybrid achieves merely 2 mpg more than the non-hybrid Accord four cylinder model, yet has greater horsepower than its former top performing six cylinder model. The Lexus hybrid achieves 23 mpg; the Ford Escape: 31.The 2006 GMC Sierra hybrid reaches an astonishingly low 19mpg. The Sierra and Silverado are in fact “mild hybrids” and do not have electric motors. They merely shut off the combustion engine at full stops. Nonetheless, they are badged as hybrids.
Auto manufacturers have adopted the green mantel that the hybrid designation brings, providing them with a certain caché and market appeal, but real world gains in economy have fallen by the wayside in some cases. Automakers have elected to take the potential fuel economy advantage of hybrids and turned it instead towards additional horsepower. In doing so, all the benefits that a reputation for producing a modern, more environmentally considerate car still accrue to them and their buyers but real world fuel economy gains, however, are almost negligible some cases. It is possible to produce a 255 horsepower hybrid Accord or a 300 horsepower hybrid SUV, but such designs lack integrity in their purposefulness. People’s imagined horsepower needs verses their real horsepower needs are frequently not the same. Perhaps only with the continuing increase in fuel costs will the tide begin to turn against excessive horsepower.
Electric Vehicles
Electric vehicles (EVs) were previously plagued with a host of problems largely centering around battery technology. Older lead acid batteries were heavy, provided limited range, and required long down times to fully recharge. Significant advancements in battery technology have occurred over the past decade. With the explosion of rechargeable devices, from cell phones and laptops to iPods driving development of advanced nickel metal hydride and lithium ion batteries, rechargeable batteries now deliver a far superior level of performance. Market forces continue to drive their performance up and their costs down.
The overall energy efficiency of an EV over an internal combustion engine (ICE) is of central importance. EVs are approximately three to four times more efficient than ICEs. Such efficiency in terms of an ICE would equate a vehicle that achieves over one hundred miles per gallon of gasoline (ANL/ NREL /PNNL 1988, 29).
Charging an EV from the electrical grid requires virtually no petroleum, even when one considers the source of electricity. According to DOE statistics, petroleum accounts for merely 2% of the nation’s electrical grid’s supply source. The grid is predominantly fed by coal (49%) and natural gas (18%), yet from state to state the individual grid mix varies. California, for example uses only 29% coal and a full 49% from natural gas.
The coal reliance aspect begs the question whether EVs are simply just moving the source of emissions from the tailpipe to the power plant. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) found that EVs create 98% less hydrocarbon emissions per mile, 99% less carbon monoxide, and 89% less oxides of nitrogen than gas cars even when considering the source of power generation.(Shnayerson 1996, 153).
Furthermore, the electrical grid incorporates more renewable energy sources such as wind and solar as time goes on becoming increasingly cleaner.
Earlier EVs such as the General Motors EV1 and Toyota RAV4 EV received their charge via an inductive paddle charger connected to an outboard inverter, typically installed in the driver’s home. The point of these inductive paddle chargers was to allay electrocution fears car manufacturers believed the public would have. Since the connecting paddle was inductive, not conductive, it was impossible to receive any shock in the time required to plug the car in. It was a clever solution, but it created a significant drawback by obsoleting for the car an existing infrastructure that people had used for years: the standard AC outlet.
Current generation EVs no longer take this approach. The inverter is on board, adding a few extra pounds but with the benefit that every AC outlet becomes a recharging point. The infrastructure for EVs then, in contrast to other alternatives such as hydrogen, is ubiquitous. Charging is usually performed at night while drivers sleep and electricity rates are lowest. A full charge via a standard AC outlet can take from 4-8 hours depending on battery size and configuration. When coupled to a 220 volt system or higher the charge time decreases significantly.
A frequently posed question is whether utilizing EVs on a large scale would over burden the electrical grid. According to the Air Resources Board if 10,000 EVs in California all plugged in at the same time to recharge, they would account for less than 0.06 of the state’s total power demand (ARB 2003).
Southern California Edison estimates that millions of EVs may be recharged at night without the need to build additional power plants. Power plants do not shut down at night but continue run and generate power, albeit at a lower level than during the day. Power generated up and above consumption is not capable of being stored. Full shutdown and restart are even more demanding so continuing to draw on this excess nighttime generation balances out the power demand, utilizing electricity that would otherwise be lost.
EVs were characterized as anemic in performance and short ranged. Currently, the Wrightspeed EV achieves 0-60mph in 3.2 seconds. The AC Propulsion T-Zero is similarly quick and its advanced lithium ion batteries provide a 300 mile range between charges, a range equivalent to most gas cars. Extremely few internal combustion engine cars match these EVs in terms of performance.
Along more conventional lines, the electric 2002-2004 Toyota RAV4 SUV traveled 125 miles on a charge with comparable performance to its gas model counterpart. In my experiences with the car I found it to be exceedingly smooth and having ample power. New, it sold for $30,000 after incentives but now used versions are highly sought after and command prices above the initial sale price.
What happened to the EV1, the RAV4 EV and other EV models from Nissan, Honda.and Ford? They appeared mostly in California for a few years beginning in the late 1990s as automakers complied with an Air Resources Board mandate requiring a percentage of new vehicles be emissions-free. Only EVs could meet the requirement. The California Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) mandate was rescinded several years after it was enacted due to pressure from automobile and petroleum industry lobbyists. Once removed, auto manufacturers ceased to offer the cars. The vast majority were lease vehicles and were reclaimed by their makers, never to be re-leased to the public.
. These vehicles were produced at a time when gas cost less than a dollar a gallon. They required no oil changes, spark plugs, mufflers, and of course never required a stop at a gas station. The auto industry was, perhaps, not ready for what it had created.
As a final note on battery technology, consistent with demand for even better rechargeable batteries Toshiba has plans to introduce a lithium-ion battery in 2006 that recharges to 80% capacity in minutes. It will first appear in power tools and application in the automotive industry is expected (Toshiba.co 2006).
Another battery development forerunner is A123Systems who have introduced a lithium-ion battery which reaches 90% capacity in five minutes using “nanoscale electrode technology” developed under MIT research and licensed solely to them (A123Systems.com 2005).
Plug-in Hybrids
A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle or PHEV, increases the battery drive capacity of a simple hybrid several fold, allowing the car to operate predominately on electric power for the first twenty to fifty miles before switching over to normal hybrid drive. The vehicle receives an extra charge by connecting to the electrical grid via a standard AC plug. When the battery capacity is exhausted, the vehicle functions as standard hybrid with a gas engine. Daily commutes on average are below the range of its electric drive limit, so most driving would use little of the gas engine.
The hybrid Toyota Prius has been converted to a plug-in hybrid by Energy CS with CalCars, and is currently the most high profile example of a PHEV. They term their plug-in Prius system Edrive, and it achieves over 100 miles per gallon. The first dozen models have been purchased by the Southern California Air Quality Management District (AQMD).
Energy CS and CalCars’ goal is to demonstrate interest in plug-in vehicles to the major auto manufactures. They do not wish to be in the business of performing costly retro-fittings of simple hybrids, but are piloting the PHEV model to demonstrate market demand and thereby reduce some of the risk automakers incur in adopting a new technology. Energy CS and CalCars estimate that if a major manufacturer built PHEVs, the additional cost would be approximately $3000 above a hybrid and $5000 more than a non-hybrid (CalCars 2006).
On May 16th 2006, the plug-in Prius was flown to Washington D.C. to be on hand while talks took place between members of Congress and the largest U.S. automakers in an effort to get Detroit on the track with fuel efficiency. The car was inspected and ridden in by dozens of statesmen and stateswomen, including Senators Clinton, Lieberman, Hatch, Bingaman and Senate Majority Leader Daschel, New York Governor Pataki, as well as by lead congressional sponsors for Fuel Choices for American Security Act, ranking members of Senate Energy Committee, and the former director of Central Intelligence, James Woolsey. Woolsey is a vocal advocate of plug-in hybrids and head of the Set America Free Coalition (CalCars 2006) as well as a board member of the non-profit EV and PHEV advocacy organization Plug-In America.org.
PHEVs with Flex Fuel, Biodiesel, or CNG
The option to combine several technologies in a single vehicle would produce the most dramatic results. For example, a conventional hybrid may average approximately 50 miles per gallon. If that hybrid were a PHEV, it then could reach 75-100 miles per gallon, minimally. If the vehicle were then to become a flex fuel PHEV running on 15% gasoline and 85% ethanol, it could then attain 500 miles per gallon of petroleum. This is exponentially greater economy than what even the most sophisticated offerings by today’s auto manufacturers deliver.
It is critical to note that additional time for this technology to mature, as in the case of hydrogen powered fuel cells, is essentially not required as PHEVs utilize current “off the shelf” technologies. The ubiquitous presence of AC outlets, and the flexibility of refueling with gas, ethanol, or electricity in any combination make these vehicles highly versatile. Additional options such as a biodiesel plug-in hybrid may be similarly appealing in its liquid refueling choices, with the ability to run on petroleum diesel or a variety of vegetable oils. CNG fuel may also drive the combustion engine of a plug-in hybrid.
The PHEV “platform” with a flex fuel, biodiesel, or CNG component could be applied to any size or style of vehicle. American consumers may retain their preferences for a variety of vehicles, from sports cars to SUVs, yet still receive exponentially greater fuel economy than they currently do. As oil prices continue to rise and drivers are nevertheless forced to reconcile themselves with the fact that larger vehicles require more energy to move them, perhaps the distinct preference Americans hold for voluminous cars may change. Whether buyers opt for a 500 mile per gallon of petroleum mid-sized car, or 100 mile per gallon 5000 pound SUV, the gains in fuel economy are still tremendous by comparison to today’s standards.
Recommendations
Rising gas prices are a boon to all alt fuel industries, but leadership at the federal level is critical in making an effective transition. A raising of CAFE (Corporate Average Fleet Economy) standards to a level commensurate with current technological capability would provide the necessary impetus to force auto manufactures into compliance. To begin with, an aggressive doubling of CAFE standards to over 50 miles per gallon with further increases to follow each year is recommended. SUVs, which comprise over half of the nation’s new car purchases, are currently far below CAFE standards for passenger vehicles and driving the country’s thirst for petroleum. An SUV/ light duty trucks loophole that currently exists must be eliminated and the economy of these vehicles included into the new CAFE requirement’s average.
All new vehicles should include a driver display of actual fuel economy according to current driving. The ability to monitor in real time one’s fuel economy brings about a greater awareness of the relationship between driving style and fuel economy. An ancillary benefit may be a reduction of speed in some cases, as the significant drop in fuel economy which occurs at speeds above 60 mph becomes immediately visible. Its primary use is to make the driver immediately aware of fuel-wasting habits such as rapid acceleration and late braking stops. By keeping fuel economy directly in front of individuals at all times, it may serve not only to reinforce smarter driving habits, but also to raise levels of expectation for fuel economy in the market.
Support for hybrids is already widespread and includes tax incentives and privileges to drive in high occupancy vehicle lanes as a single occupant. Advancing to the next level, first and foremost, means adopting grid capable plug-in hybrids with flex fuel tanks, diesel/biodiesel engines, or CNG engines. All variants are possible, but the plug-in aspect is the vital component that moves the majority of all driving off fossil fuels. Essentially any other alternative fuel technology can be employed on top of the PHEV platform and produce exponentially better fuel economy than any one alternative fuel would alone. Funding and incentives for any iteration of these technologies should be adopted for the next fifteen to twenty-five years. At the end of this period, with a substantial number of new fuel vehicles in the public’s hands, market forces may be left to decide which technologies prosper and the public prefers.
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