Abstract
The current energy crisis is similar in many respects to the United States (US) energy crisis of the 1970’s time frame, except that during that time the US motoring public had a severe desire for, and dependency on, large gas-guzzling personal automobiles rather than mass transit or smaller more fuel-efficient, and less polluting, vehicles. Socio-behavioral and alternate energy (AE) technological feasibility studies conducted after the early energy crisis indicated that consumers were resistant to AE vehicles because of many factors such as: lack of confidence in reliability of AE systems performance; AE vehicle costs; concern of adequacy for refueling infrastructure; and, limited travel ranges. Also, as in the present energy situation, there were several significant world events taking place in the 1970’s that had obvious implications on the availability of world petroleum supplies and the subsequent levels of petroleum reserves for world consumers. More over, the price of petroleum fuel was increasing and the supplies seemed to be diminishing. Economists from major petroleum and natural gas supplier companies began to forecast significant increases in oil and natural gas costs. In the U.S., the cost of gasoline virtually doubled in a matter of months rather than years. As a consequence, many of the world’s industrialized nations, and consumers, began to adopt somewhat successful energy conservation measures, and an increase in crude oil production helped gasoline prices subside somewhat. However, once the 1980’s new levels of petroleum costs were stabilized, and the world conflicts appeared to be less of a threat, consumers began to abandon their desire for more energy efficient AE transportation systems.
Today, technological advances in electric battery life and component costs have improved, along with the infrastructure for refuelling electric and CNG vehicles. As a result, more OEM AE vehicles have been made available to the motoring public prior to and during the current energy crisis. Unfortunately, the market share and number of these AE vehicles in the world stream of commerce is still low due in part to the economic costs associated with manufacturing development and set-up of new vehicle production lines, especially for AE vehicles that require expensive infrastructure costs for factors such as, maintenance and repair, parts replacement, and refuelling centres. Thus, while there are many similarities between the current energy crisis and the earlier 1970’s problem, there is also the significant difference that the world economy is in a severe financial difficulty that is likely to hinder OEM cross-over to AE systems. This current study examines and compares the past and present AE technological and socio-economic issues, and also examines future aspects of AE feasibility and consumer acceptance, as well as energy availability.
Keywords: Alternate Energy Vehicles, Energy Sources, AE Vehicle Feasibility