Just like the Model T replaced the horse or the cassette, VHS tapes and records fell to the CD and DVD the time of the combustion engine is over and the transition will be swift and final!
People will squawk and moan but the powers that be will follow the money. And the money is moving toward renewable energy now that they have found its too expensive to stay with the oil paradigm at least in the USA. But there is news the media, politicians, oil producers and gas deliverers don't want you to know. According to Bloomberg a tide of failing energy companies has government regulators racing to address the nation’s stockpile of abandoned, methane-leaking oil wells as environmental liabilities come to a head in oil and gas bankruptcy proceedings.
More than 260 domestic oil producers filed Chapter 11 over a six-year period marked by depressed commodity prices and the global economic shock caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Many distressed fossil fuel companies are passing environmental obligations on to government bodies amid the worst crude crash in history. Some of those companies use bankruptcy to shift multimillion or even multibillion-dollar decommissioning burdens to predecessors and joint interest holders. bipartisan infrastructure bill passed by the Senate last month would allocate more than $4 billion for plugging and remediating abandoned oil wells, while federal regulators and lawmakers continue to look at tougher rules that would require fossil fuel companies to set aside more money to plug wells at the end of their productive life.
In a federal policy update announced Aug. 18, the Biden administration tightened requirements to ensure more offshore oil companies have funds in place for decommissioning wells in the Gulf of Mexico. “In general, we don’t want the taxpayer picking up the bill for decommissioning,” said John Filostrat, a spokesman for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. “We want to make sure there’s no public bailout of companies and their obligations.” Although politicians are saying that they know the system is made so the public will have to bail out the rich every time.
Decades of lenient regulation and subsidies to oil companies that could have modernized the entire American infrastructure economically, coupled with the economics that have long guided a cyclical boom-or-bust industry in the U.S. have made it challenging to ensure drillers are covering their cleanup costs. Drillers don’t believe they should. They are like people who refuse to curb their dogs they look for others to clean their messes. More than 3 million oil and gas wells in the U.S. sit idle, and roughly two-thirds of them are unplugged, collectively emitting several million metric tons of greenhouse gasses each year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Many of the wells leak methane, more than 25 times as potent as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere and exacerbating climate change, the EPA says.
The biggest reason that global oil production isn't increasing is that energy companies and Wall Street investors are not sure that prices will stay high long enough for them to make a profit from drilling lots of new wells. Even as foreign oil rises in price the cost of electric vehicles and powering them makes them more appealing to consumers not to mention the boom in solar and wind that has the old guard rushing to do anything to save their kickbacks and vacations or speaking engagements for the oil and gas industries. The latest intel states that US oil production will decline by 50 percent of 2020 levels by 2040, while US gas production will decline by only 30 percent of 2020 levels by 2040. To put it simply, smart money is on the electric vehicle.
The differing impacts of demand destruction on US oil and gas production are illustrated in the difference between forecasted production in 2050 and present production levels. The process of folding up shop on combustion engine development is well underway at several automakers, where no more multimillion-dollar engine plans will get approved. The automakers are making it official—they’re phasing out internal combustion and heading, with varying degrees of happiness, into an all-electric future. So at what point does the more than 120-year history of producing and improving gas and diesel engines actually stop? Some carmakers are saying that the process is already well underway, and no more multimillion-dollar engine development plans will get approved.
Stellantis was late to electrification, but it is making up for lost time in 2021, especially since the Fiat Chrysler/PSA merger that created the company. The Jeep Wrangler 4xe is a plug-in hybrid with a four-cylinder turbo engine and two electric motors for a combined 350 hp. Asked if the gas engine had reached the end of the line, Stellantis spokeswoman Lisa Barrow said, “We have said there will be a 4xe powertrain for the redesigned Jeep Grand Cherokee. We haven’t made any other engine announcements yet. ”in Europe, Ford is also ahead of schedule leading with that market. By 2025, the company said, 100 percent of its European passenger vehicles will be “zero emissions capable,” either all electric or plug-in hybrid, with full electrification by 2030. BBC’s Top Gear opined, “If you’re in the US of A, your pickup trucks and Mustangs can rest a little easier, as Ford’s only electrifying its European lineup.” But that’s an interim step, and even the Mustang now has an electric car, the Mach-E, in its lineup.
Still, the timetable in Ford’s home market is being ramped up as competition like Hyundai releases the IONIQ 5 in 2023 an affordable all electric vehicle with a 360 mile range that charges to 80 percent in 18 minutes. Ford’s response is as follows: “As you’re aware, we’re investing at least $22 billion through 2025 to deliver all-new electrified vehicles,” said T.R. Reid, director of corporate and public policy communications at Ford. General Motors surprised the world with the announcement last January that it is aiming at 2035 to stop selling gasoline and diesel vehicles. And, in at least one division, the pipeline for new V8s seems to be drying up. “On the Cadillac side of the house, there aren’t any future internal combustion engines that I’m able to comment on at this point,” said Cadillac spokesman Stefan Cross “Cadillac is committed to an all-electric future!”
Audi CEO Markus Duesmann told the German publication Automobilwoche, “We will no longer develop a new internal combustion engine, but will adapt our existing engines to new emission guidelines.” by the end of 2026 Audi will focus solely on full-electric drivetrains, German media reports said. After 2026, the automaker will only develop battery-powered models, according to Automobilwoche, a sister publication of Automotive News Europe, and a report in German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
SolarReviews surveys show that EV owners with home solar pay on average less than $200 a year to charge their car.
It makes sense that someone buying an electric vehicle would also want to buy a charging system and get it installed. But how about solar panels, and home battery storage?Automakers are increasingly wanting to sell all of these products. Hyundai recently announced the rollout of Hyundai Home, a service to help the company’s customers match up with installers of EV chargers, rooftop solar and battery storage. In October, General Motors announced GM Energy, which sells a variety of products for homes and businesses, including solar panels.
Those are just two recent examples. In addition, Ford is more than a year into its partnership with Sunrun to sell EV charging, solar panels and other products to customers buying Ford EVs. And Tesla has been combining EVs and rooftop solar for years. This opens the way for thousands of installer Jobs in the home solar industry whose average installation takes less than 6 hours and the industry creates a greater demand for electricians who connect and inspect systems usually within 1- 2 hours. Under the CARB mandate, there will be a tapering of sales of gas-powered cars over the next 13 years: 35% of new autos must be zero emission by 2026, 68% by 2030 and 100% by 2035.Cars last around 15 years, so it will take us to 2040 before we get rid of most of the gasoline-powered cars, but if people wait too long the resale and trade in value of the combustion engine vehicles will drop while they are still paying them off. Gas-powered vehicles lose roughly $3,200 a year, according to Car and Driver as of July 2, 2022. Expect this devaluation to double by 2030 when combustion autos will be less than 42% of all vehicles. At that time After five years, a combustion engine vehicle will have lost $30,000.
The climate and healthcare bill that President Biden signed on Tuesday removes limits for the number of EVs that can be sold by each manufacturer and still receive a subsidy. Now, more people who buy EVs from Tesla (ticker: TSLA) and General Motors (GM) can get the $7,500 subsidy.
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