How much longer will fossil fuels be the standard?

[LINUS]

Just kind of wondering, as the S14 swap debate came up (surprise, surprise) with the fellow in Iceland doing a forced S50 into a M3 body - how much longer will we have gas?
Seriously, who cares about the S14 and collectibility of cars in general if we won't be using them, or at least using them for more than pure recreation?
The probability that we will be forced off fossil fuel in the next few decades seems pretty decent, even Big Oil is spending huge $$$ on solar technologies.
Not saying that the next gen cars are solar, just what I read in a particular oil company whose newsletter I get.
I just wonder what the next 15,30,45 years will hold. I know I'll be around to see these timeframes, and I just wonder what the practical lifespan is left for our fossil cars? Will flex fuel be a transition to a gas that won't work at all in our cars, but still work poorly in a flex motor? Is the lifespan for cars requiring 90+ octane coming to a close?
We already are seeing skyrocketing costs at the pump, how long until super unleaded is so impractical we all take our cars off the road and reserve them for driving events? Or selling and buying a car that runs well on whatever the future (affordable?) fuel may be?

What do you think?

[Mike325]

I think that you have some good points. I think that there will be ways to save fuel outside of the automotive industry. I know that they are starting to use heat from the earth to heat homes and buildings, which saves millions of barrels of oil every year.

With the technology that new cars have today as well as all the technology going into saving fuels elsewhere, cars could be still on the road using gas for at least 30+ more years. Granted, most would be some type of hybrid vehicle. know BMW is using hydrogen for the next concept 7-series and that will be out soon. I am not sure what fuel will replace gas in the end, and I am interested to see what the engineers come up with.

[AdironRider]

Cars arent the major drain on fossil fuels, electricity generation is. Automotive usage of fossil fuels only amounts to like 16% of the worlds total usage if my memory serves me right. Change the way we power everything else, and our beloved world of automobiles lives on.

[Mike325]

Cars arent the major drain on fossil fuels, electricity generation is. Automotive usage of fossil fuels only amounts to like 16% of the worlds total usage if my memory serves me right. Change the way we power everything else, and our beloved world of automobiles lives on.

Yep, and the good thing is is that they are changing the way other things get fuled.

[hugh jass]

since there is so many existing vehicles out there that run on fossil fuels, finding some practical alternative fuel that can power them is probably the way to go. ethanol, biofuels, etc. i think there will always be internal comustion enginer for as long as any of us are around, but eventually something other than gasoline will be powering them. you'll also probably be able to buy gasoline, but it will cost an arm and a leg and be a 'speciality' fuel.

[92 mtechnic cabrio]

im not scared

[craig4ie]

There's always ethanol when fossil fuel becomes too expensive/hard to come by. Most of today's new cars can be run on either a mixture of ethanol and gas or pure ethanol. I'm sure someone will find a way to make older cars run on ethanol, there would be alot of money to be made in conversion kits.

Hydrogen really isn't a viable option because it takes alot of effort to extract it from any source other than fossil fuel.

[equate975]

I bet it won't go away for atleast 50+ years. The technology might be there way earlier but not everyone in the US will be able to afford a new car. Just look at all the people that don't drive 2006/2007 cars. Your local McDonalds employee isn't going to be able to afford a brand spanking new car.

[LivingLegend06]

it will be around for the rest of all our lives.

more and more new cars are going to start using alternative fuels but gasoline will still be a the majority of the market for probabally at least another 25 years, and even then its not going to go away all togther. its going to take a long time before you will not be able to find gasoline anymore, i wouldnt worry.

Personally i think hydrogen is going be the next big fuel as soon as we get alternative forms of generating electricity figured out, its still gonna be a while.

[E30 Wagen]

Well, once rich soccer moms get it into their heads that they don't need a 5 liter V8 suburban for their daily errands and start buying more fuel efficient vehicles, our gasoline consumption will drop significantly. Millions of gallons can be saved if people opt for the car that gets 25mph instead of 20mph. Even if it's just an average 1mph increase in efficiency, it saves millions of gallons of fuel nationwide.

[Ryan Stewart]

im with LL06, we will all be dead before it becomes extinct. The catch is it will just become harder to get to and therefore much more expensive.

[Jand3rson]

Well, once rich soccer moms get it into their heads that they don't need a 5 liter V8 suburban for their daily errands and start buying more fuel efficient vehicles, our gasoline consumption will drop significantly.

Never happen, because you're not just talking about soccer moms, you're talking about a good 70-80% of Americans.

[uofom3]

I'm not worried about gas running out.

I am worried about the effects that people spending outrageous amounts on gas has on our economy.

[ivo316]

According to the sheik of Dubbai, they have oil for 25 years, theyll be turning their country into THE tourism resort for the middle east, regarding us, don't worry, Brazilians have been running their cars on alcohol for decades now, and those are carburated old tech cars.

so no biggie.;)

[Tangent]

I think the ideal solution will be personal hydrogen generation. Hydrogen will be the fuel of choice because not only can it be used to power fuel-cell vehicles, but you can also convert gas engines to be hydrogen IC engines. The energy inefficiency involved in generating hydrogen can be relieved by allowing for personal solar-powered hydrogen generation equipment to be installed in houses.

Everybody with a hydrogen-fueled car would have a small solar (or wind I suppose) powered hydrogen generator next to their house. This way the vast majority of hydrogen needed by people for their daily commutes would be essentially free, they'd just be paying for the maintenance of the generator and the water that it uses to create the hydrogen. This would free up the rest of the gas station infrastruction to just fill the gap between what is home-generated and what people that make longer commutes or are on road trips need. That can not only be supplemented by solar or wind power on a larger scale, but the excess demand that will have to be generated with non-renewable fuels will probably still be far less than the amount of those fuels we use now.

If we want to have any hope at all for running on ethanol like Brazil we need to overturn the idiotic requirement that ethanol be generated from corn. They're getting it from sugar cane which is hugely more effective. Problem is that the corn lobby has enough pull in DC to buy their way into monopolizing ethanol production, no matter the cost...