Driving into the Future

In light of the oil spill I have been thinking a lot more about the role of oil in our lives. As a car guy, my hobbies are rather dependent on the stuff, and in a lot of ways that is depressing. At a recent race I attended, the car I was pulling to win was a BP sponsored car (actually since it was a race in California, they chose to use a very nice looking Arco livery for the second year in a row, but there were probably some pressures as it was a week or two after the start of the spill), and I felt a bit dirty for it.

I really like motorsports, driving, and everything associated with the motor vehicle, but even I realize that there is only a limited future for cars as we know them. Since in addition to being a car guy, I am also a bit of a geek, I am frequently asked what the future of the car is going to be. Where are we going after oil? So I decided to put down my vision of the future, and what won't make it to the future with us.

So as to not have another book length post, I will break it up over a few separate posts to follow shortly.

Part 1: Hydrocarbons and Hydrogen

Part 2: It's Electric

Part 3: The Future is Not Quite Now. But Close.