Notwithstanding the huge jump in marketshare by 2040, "90 percent of the world's transportation will still run on oil-based fuels", the Exxon Mobil report predicted. In fact, according to William Colton, Exxon's strategic planning chief, the hybrid vehicles will only maintain oil's dominance as a transportation fuel because "the cheapest hybrids will be those that also use gasoline."
Nonetheless, environmentalists were pleased with this aspect of Exxon-Mobil's energy prediction regarding the widespread adoption of hybrid vehicles.
Deron Lovaas, Federal Transportation Policy Director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said: "It's evidence that what the Obama administration is doing with fuel economy is working".
The report did stir some controversy within the fossil fuel industry as it predicted that natural gas, due to the boom in hydraulic fracturing, would replace coal as the second most widespread fuel behind oil - which was contested by the coal industry.
Comments
I guess we can all stop worrying
Exxon tells us that there's plenty of oil left. I feel so much better now.