“The stone age didn’t end for the lack of stone, and the oil age will end long before the world runs out of oil”  

 ~ Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani

With recent developments in the fields of Electric and Solar power, humanity is rapidly progressing towards a post oil future in which petroleum loses its core significance. Not only are electric vehicles being produced in force by car makers like Tesla and BMW, but even planes are transitioning to become electrically powered. Boeing and JetBlue Airways have announced they would begin selling a hybrid-electric commuter aircraft by 2022. Although comparatively smaller, this is a pioneering step in reducing our dependence on oil in the transportation industry.

This mammoth transition is already in motion, but apart from reducing global CO2 emissions and ushering in new sources of renewable energy, it will have major effects on the automobile industry. In fact, one clean energy expert Toni Seba has predicted that By 2030, 95% of people won’t own private cars which would wipe off the automobile industry.

Although I cannot comment on the validity of these claims, I can definitely say that this transition will have a multitude of far reaching consequences on the world economy. When it comes to filling up the massive hole which was previously left by oil locomotives, I feel that although electric energy will play a majority role, it will not be the only option.

I feel that solar energy and even nuclear fusion powered cars could become the future of the automobile industry, however humanity is still lacking years of research when it comes to actually developing efficient methods of harnessing the above sources of energy.

Whatever the new sources of energy for automobiles are, one thing is for sure: They will definitely cut off majorly on toxic gaseous emissions. This will be a major relief for Earth’s ecosystem, as humanity will play a major role in trying to reverse the impacts of climate change brought about in the 19th, 20th and early 21st century.