Why A Diverse Alternative Fuel Vehicle Industry Will Not Work

One of the problems faced by the alternative energy industry today is that each new technology, whether from biofuels, solar, wind or hydrogen, is being taken as a whole. As such, a failure of one is deemed as a failure of the entire alternative energy industry.

For instance, the recent test regarding the Chevy Volt catching fire is being viewed as a sign that alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs), whether or not they are electric vehicles, are unsafe.

The alternative energy industry is a mix of entirely different and sometimes unrelated technologies. The scientific and engineering communities involved in their development are currently divided on which technology to actually pursue. In addition, alternative energy technologies are essentially competing with each other on what will eventually be used as a generally acknowledged replacement for fossil fuels.

Alternative fuel vehicles comprise roughly only 5% of all the total vehicles in the world today. When it comes to sales, 50 million alternative fuel vehicles is not much to look at when compared to the 1 billion fossil fuel vehicles. Taking into consideration that alternative fuel vehicles are further divided into electrics, hybrids, fuel celled and others, it is almost understandable why fossil fueled vehicles are still the main focus of automobile manufacturers. Fossil fueled vehicles are time tested products and automobile manufacturers are not willing to gamble, at least not yet, in revolutionary vehicles like AFVs.

The alternative fuel vehicle industry needs to focus on which technology they will focus on before they can compete with fossil fuel vehicles in the market. Without focus, consumers are continually confused on which technology to support and eventually buy. Investors too become wary whether to erect more infrastructures and inject more capital if they cannot see which technology will be used in the foreseeable future.

The alternative fuel vehicle industry needs to focus. When they have resolved this issue, laying down infrastructures, marketing and supporting AFVs will be easier.