In the year 1900, there were over 20 million horses in the United States and only 4,000 automobiles. Where gas stations exist today, stables and blacksmith shops stood and the market for hay was thriving. In its early days, the oil industry existed solely to manufacture kerosene as fuel for lamps while gasoline was considered just a by-product that was often discarded. To acquire fuel for those new fangled automobiles, it was necessary for early motorists to fill up a bucket with fuel from a gasoline barrel located at the local general store or pharmacy. This process wasn’t exactly convenient or safe and, combined with small gas tanks and limited fueling stations, made the house a much more attractive option for long distance travel.
By 1905, a mere five years later, over 25,000 cars were being manufactured annually in the United States. By the year 1910, over 500,000 cars were now snaking up and down Main Street looking for gasoline while blocking the movement of pedestrians and frightening the horse-drawn carriages. Around this same time, a man named Sylvanus F. Bowser, working out of his barn in Indiana, designed a pump that would efficiently take gas out of a barrel and transfer it into a car's tank, essentially laying the foundation for what we know today as the drive-in filling station. Thanks to Henry Ford, The Standard Oil Company of America and numerous other early entrepreneurs, the age of the combustion engine was off and running under a full head of….. well fossil fuel.
Today, according to National Transportation Statistics from 2008, there are over 250 million registered vehicles in the United States including 136 million passenger vehicles which burn more than 380 million gallons of oil per day. Just as the horse was replaced as a form of transportation in the early 1900’s by the advent of the combustion engine, rapid advances in electric car technologies are now occurring that will soon lead to the gradual disappearance of these petrol-fueled and diesel-fueled vehicles from our roadways. Fortunately, this time around it is highly unlikely that the infrastructure necessary to support and expedite this changeover will be coming out of a barn located in the Midwest. We are already seeing huge investments and expenditures by a host of multinational corporations, world governmental agencies and universities as the race to get in on the ground floor of the alternative transportation market starts to really heat up. Here is just one small example of the support mechanisms being put in place to support this transformation.
Dell Computer recently announced the completion of a 130 kW Solar Grove installation at their headquarters in Round Rock, Texas. The Solar Grove is comprised of a number of “solar trees” constructed in the company parking lot, designed to gather the suns energy as a viable energy source while also providing shade for employee parking spaces. The energy collected by these solar trees is stored and then used to light the parking lot at night and to power charging stations that can charge both electric and hybrid vehicles during the time their owners are at work. Imagine how much energy we could save annually if parking lots throughout the United States were equipped with similar technology not to mention the added bonus of having your car charged at work each day for free.
Increased concerns over the environmental impact of burning fossil fuel along with the instability in the supply and price of gasoline has brought about renewed interest in electric vehicles. Promoters of electric car technology are currently facing infrastructure and pricing challenges similar to those experienced by early motorists in the early 1900s but isn’t it exciting to imagine where this technology will be 5 years from now? Your comments and suggestions are always welcome bbruggner@gmail.com
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