The Peak Oil Crisis: Catenaries and Pantographs

As the availability of liquid fuels dwindles, those supplies that remain will be increasingly allocated to uses for which there are no readily available substitutes — such as powering aircraft and ships. Electric power for land vehicles appears to be the most realistic option for the present. Cellulosic biofuels may come to power some share of land transport, but this is still many years away. Electric power is a proven technology and, more importantly, a widespread distribution system for electricity is already here.

If ways of producing hydrogen cheaply and distributing it are ever developed, hydrogen too could provide fuel for vehicles. For the immediate future only electricity, which can come from conservation of existing power production, nuclear power stations and renewable sources, appears to be the most likely power source for land vehicles.


Powering cars and light trucks with electricity does not seem to be an insurmountable problem provided that one is willing to live with their limitations. Progress on improved batteries apparently is being made (although some are skeptical) so that numerous makes and flavors of electric cars and light trucks will likely be coming on the market within the next few years. Developing a battery powered car, however, is one thing, building and marketing hundreds of millions of them, in an era of declining resources, is something else. While the electric car age seems likely to start soon, just how ubiquitous they will become is another question.

The U.S. currently has some 230 million light vehicles in its fleet. If, as seems likely, gasoline and diesel reach unaffordable prices in the next five to ten years, then these vehicles are simply going to be abandoned by the millions as their owners can no longer afford the fuel or be willing to make payments on useless machinery.

For the few that have an alternative fuel vehicle, are very wealthy, or are able to travel in car pools so that many can pay for the gas, the roads are going to have a lot less traffic. In many countries, but particularly here in North America, there is going to be a lot of