Quote:
Originally Posted by LightingGuy
A thought I had the other day but haven't done much research on admittedly...
If the whole world gradually switches over to electric cars, we would essentially be doubling the weight of every single vehicle. This would effectively double the wear on roads, requiring more road repair, and roads built to a higher standard.
Not only that, but a lot of Africa has yet to industrialize, which would cause further demand in road construction resources.
Road asphalt comes from Bitumen. Alberta's oil sands contain the highest bitumen deposits in the world.
Wouldn't this mean that even after we no longer need oil for cars that there would still be a massive market for Alberta's oil?
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Let's say that due to materials technology, those cars were half the weight. Think of carbon fibre vs aluminum
"Carbon fiber composites have a density of 1.55 g/cm3 (epoxy resin 30%, carbon fiber 70%), that in the case of aluminum is 2.7g/cm3 and 4.5 g/cm3 for titanium or 7.9 g/cm3 for steel."
http://www.dexcraft.com/articles/car...-of-materials/
You could then say that we would need even less oil. The goal of most people when it comes to the end of oil, is not stopping using it, but stopping using it as a fuel for energy. Plastics are made of oil. I'd guess plastics will still be around for decades for use in everyday stuff. However this does bring up a different issue - cost of oil. This could see places like Alberta oil sands shut down till it gets back over a certain price. The thing is, we won't feel it as the cost is in the cost of manufacturing a product, not in energy consumption.