With cheap oil supplies dwindling and pressure on to decrease emissions, there are significant question marks over how we're going to get around in the future. Action needs to be taken soon but in what form should that action come? Are we going to be relying on biofuels, electric and hydrogen or some other form of energy to power our vehicles in years to come? Euronews met with Dr. Oliver Inderwildi of Wadham College in Oxford, lead author of one of the most comprehensive academic studies ever published on transportation.
Dr Inderwildi says we shouldn't be too hasty to draw immediate conclusions on exactly which route is the future. "I don't think we should pick winners here," he tells us. "It's important that we give R&D incentives for all the different opportunities that there are. We have to think about alternative fuels, we have to think about electrification of transportation, we definitely have to think about fuel cells and the hydrogen economy as well. However, I don't think it's a good idea to pick a winner out of those. We should give incentives and let the market decide which is the best option."
There is not one solution for all countries though. While Dr Inderwildi believes electric may work for France, he does not think it is necessarily the right answer for America and Britain. "If you're running an electric vehicle in the UK or the US they hardly reduce emissions at all," he continues. "However let's look at France. The country you live in is generated from nuclear sources, very low C02 emissions from nuclear power plants, and hence in France electric vehicles are really an option. However not in the UK and US, so we really have to decarbonise the electricity sector as well in parallel with promoting electric transportation."
Dr Inderwildi's over-riding message is that nothing will change quickly. The current fleet of cars will be on the road until 2025, so any cut in emissions will only be gradual. "There is no silver bullet," Dr Inderwildi concludes. "We have to get a smooth transition to a new transportation system by using now in the short term more efficient smaller cars, by choosing less carbon intensive modes of transport, like public transportation and railways. That's what we can do in the short term and at the same time we should give R&D incentives to improve novel technologies like electric cars, green electricity production and fuel cells."
