Destabilizing Power of Oil – The monopoly of power that big oil has historically held over the world economies is slowly but surely declining. The advent of future technologies such as electric, hydrogen, or other fuels has propelled the automobile industry to a position to not be reliant on foreign oil. Coupled with the West’s shift of oil trading partners has led to the slow decline of Oil’s grip on the international economies.
Other technologies – Companies like Tesla have stepped up to fill a void in the marketplace to provide vehicles that can run on alternative energy sources such as electricity.
But interestingly fairly shortly after the original oil crisis of the 1970s, General Motors created the EV-1 (Smithsonian Mag). The EV-1 was considered by many to be the first major produced and used electric vehicle, this vehicle was the direct result of the free market’s response to the previous oil crises and ones that were yet to occur.
General Motors only made these vehicles available as part of a test program and were lease only, meaning that no one in the general public ever held legal ownership of one. After a short period, General Motors scrapped the program citing how inefficient and not cost-effective the pilot program had been. Information uncovered through my research sheds more light on to the Oil lobby could have affected the decision. While Big Oil never officially came out against the EV through the financial backing of initiatives such as the “Californians against Utility Abuse” the international oil lobby was initially successful at squashing any potential competition.
Fast forwarding to the present and companies such as Tesla. After an uphill battle, Tesla has announced plans to start mass producing an all-electric car that has a target price point of around $30,000. After realizing that the Oil lobby was on the losing side of history, major car manufacturers such as Nissan, and Chevy have now started production of their electric cars. Years after the original EV-1, electric cars are now here to stay, a testament to the declining influence of the International Oil Community.
Originating Oil Sources – The amount of oil that the United States imports have been on a steady decline since 1985. As to the latest report released by the Energy Information Administration (the Official Government Agency responsible for the recording of such statistics), the United States imported 27% of the oil used by consumers. Factoring in our close ally Canada (37%) the amount of oil that is sourced from potentially hostile countries (OPEC, other Persian Gulf countries) is minute compared to the alternative energy sources, and home-grown production capabilities that we have developed. This may mean that the domestic oil lobby has not suffered as large of a loss of political capital as the international oil industry, but it is safe to say the influence of foreign oil has dramatically decreased since the original oil crises in the 1970s.