Transportation from Fossil Fuel to Electric Again

 The history of the transportation of the American automobile that most people don't know was when cars became available, there were two choices fuel or electric powered. Most people in that period preferred electric because they were quieter and did not omit exhaust fumes. That was until John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937), America's first billionaire, had a new plan. He obtained his wealth from an early investment in the oil industry. He saw an opportunity when Edwin Drake discovered oil in 1859 in Titusville, Pennsylvania, struck oil, and he discovered that crude oil is converted to kerosene. Kerosene was a suitable replacement for whale oil that was used for lamp oil at that time and was rising in price with the whale population dwindling. Rockefeller founded the Standard Oil Company with his brother William, Henry Flagler, Jabez A. Bostwick, chemist Samuel Andrews, and a silent partner, Stephen V. Harkness. This author believes the most significant reason Rockefeller made so much money wasn't that he bought out most of his partners but because he invested in finding new ways to use the byproducts of the refining process. During the refining process, approximately 45% of each barrel of crude oil ends up being gasoline. Rockefeller was primarily interested in kerosene for lamp fuel, which amounted to about 8% of a barrel of crude oil at the beginning of his oil venture, leaving gasoline as the most significant byproduct of each barrel of the natural oil production process. Most refineries' tried dumping the leftover byproducts like gasoline at the time was commonly dumped into rivers and fields only to discover it killed everything from fish to plants. Standard Oil eventually found that gasoline could power automobile engines, so they converted most of the engines in the company's fleet to run off of gasoline. Most fuel power motors ran off from ethanol during that era, and with advancing the timing of the motor, they were able to run off from gasoline. Rockefeller eventually convinced auto manufacturers that gasoline engines were the better choice, and that is how the electric car was phased out 120 years ago. Today the electric vehicle is returning, and with solar panels, the car of tomorrow can be powered by the sun. This is possible with a simple carport and a battery storage system sizes calculated to provide enough energy to run electricity for the ordinary day. Which is around 40 miles a day in an urban setting, and the more the technology is used the more efficient these systems will become. Now that this story has been told, where would technology be if different decisions were made then?