Why aren't alternative means of transport penetrating the market?

Question

Japanese electric powered cars are now available. A filipino inventor invented a car that can run on water and cars can now convert their engine to run on cheaper liquified petroleum gas. I even heard of one that runs on leftover cooking oil.

So why are we still so dependent on oil driven cars? Why are these modes of transport not penetrating the market? And for the little that do, why are they so darn expensive?

Answer 1

because car dealerships are smart in not buying into government scams

Answer 2

One can hardly ask why anything is so slow to penetrate the market and why they are so darned expensive. They are not penetrating the market because they are so expensive and they are so expensive in part because they are not penetrating the market.

But Electric cars make sense for Japan, with most Japan's electricity coming from nuclear, not coal.

LPG, LNG and CNG are not alternative fuels, they are still fossil fuels. We are also running out of readily available natural gas that provides all of them.

The amount of available leftover cooking oil is very limited. In most markets those who have converted are having to use new cooking oil.

I have not yet seen the patent for that car that runs on water.  Do you know that this is not a scam? How?

Answer 3

there are several reasons for that. The oil companies don't want alternative energies to destroy their monopoly. Americans like their SUVs and lifted trucks (sad i know). Americans are too lazy to go walk, ride their bikes or use a bus.

Answer 4

Two words...Bush Oil!!!

Answer 5

Because car dealers don't like to sell cars that don't break down as much(such as the electric car) as they lose money.

Answer 6

They cost far more than gas powered cars.  

You are using fossil fuels to charge your over sized golf cart.

Water cars don't actually work.

Any diesel engine can be converted to run on cooking oil for pretty cheap.

Answer 7

Ya it is about time for that.

Answer 8

They are.  It just takes time for the newer technologies to fully develop, then to be mass produced, then for the public to accept them.  See the link below for some examples of EVs coming to the market now and in the near future.

Answer 9

The oil companies have absolutely every reason to discourage alternative fuels in any way possible and they do.

Being such ethical businesses they have our best interests in mind so are helping us by not putting a biodiesel pump at every station to make alternative fuels AVAILABLE AT THE PUMP, DUH!

Until then it's all a game. No way enough concerned people are going to drive miles out of the way to few and far between stations that carry biodiesel to make a dent in consumption.

Ultimately it doesn't matter. Our systems produce too much waste heat so even if we stop all excess emission this week, our planet will overheat, the ocean will keep rising.

Those nuclear plants directly heat the planet with twice the energy that they put out in watts, so if you have a 1,000 megawatt plant, it directly heats the world with 2,000 megawatts by warming the water used to cool it.

Any high quality fuel, biodiesel or gas is burned at too high a rate so produces most of it's energy just to heat the air, only about 30% at most goes into forward motion.

Until we redesign every machine that transforms energy to capture this waste heat and turn it into work, we're on a one way street to continued global heating.

This won't be anywhere as easy as switching fuels and you see how easy that is. Every refrigerator, electric motor, gas motor, power plant and the list goes on will have to do this to finally bring global heating under control.

Our homes will be autonomous, producing all the power they need to supply modern lifestyles, or the ocean will keep rising. Those urban heat islands must be turned off.

Until then we are on average heating the universe at twice the rate we capture usable energy, the rest being lost to entropy, something natural systems are far better at because organic combustion is a much, much slower process than stomping the foot on the accelerator ...

Answer 10

Dude, I've heard everything from the loonies saying that the big vehicle manufactures are in league with the oil companies all the way up to people saying that it costs more.

I don't know why.  Diesel can be ran off of used cooking oil (I've seen it done) and I've even seen Brown's gas generators that work pretty well, so I'm beginning to think that the big companies are keeping it shut for a reason...

Whatever though...

Answer 11

Because they aren't any better than petrol powered cars.

LPG is only cheaper when the government taxes it less than petrol (and it is still a fossil fuel).

No one has ever made a car that runs on water (but a lot of criminals have gotten rich claiming to have done so).

Leftover cooking oil can be burnt in some diesel powered cars though it may be illegal (since you aren't paying fuel tax on it).

Electric cars take forever to change and tend to have pretty crappy range.

The reason that the alternatives haven't taken over is because petrol and diesel are simply better fuels (if you ignore the health and safety aspects).  A long time ago electric cars outsold petrol burners but the lack of range of electric cars caused petrol to win over them (and steam cars which were the other competitor took a while to start because you had to wait for the water to boil).  There were no oil industry dirty tricks the first time around, just consumer preference for decent range and instant starting.

The hybrid car has penetrated the market because it provides the range people want with lower fuel bills because of the more efficient internal combustion engine and regenerative braking (even if you don't actually save money on a hybrid right now).

Answer 12

There ARE alternatives, but you have to look! I own 2 cars that run on natural gas (methane), and they were made by Ford several years ago. The technology has been around, but not many people know about it. Not a lot of these cars were made, probably because there aren't a lot of natural gas filling stations around. The carmakers won't make cars that you can't fill up because no one will buy them. Gas station owners won't put in pumps for them because of the expense. It's a difficult situation. Anyway, check out my sources and see if there's a station near you, and if so, just do an end run around the gasoline issue and buy yourself a natural gas car. They don't cost an arm and a leg, either. I bought my 1999 Crown Vic used for $4000. It CAN be done!

Answer 13

You mentioned cars running on used cooking oil. I saw in the local newspaper a couple of weeks ago where the (communist) state of California (Here in Nevada we call it 'The People's Republic of California') Is all up in arms because they are losing out on gasoline taxes when people burn used cooking oil for fuel instead. They have even gone after a guy who worked out  deal with some restaurants to haul away their used oil for free, so he could filter it and burn it in his vehicles. It wouldn't surprise me if the state will soon have a tax enforcement man guarding  the grease traps outside of every restaurant to make sure nobody makes off with tax free cooking oil.

Answer 14

because of d**n oil companies and greedy politicians. how can you put tax and subsidies to water ? so alternative will just be forgotten