Essential research for anyone addressing one of the key challenges of today's energy market - re-engineering the automobile market.

Report Contents.

- New fuelling and use models for the automobile sector.
- Disruptors within the energy and transport sector.
- The impact of electric and hydrogen powered vehicles.
- The impact of vehicle clubs within the hire car sector.
- The impact of vehicle sharing on the small vehicle market.
- Selling new use models to automobile owners.
- Opportunities for incumbent and next generation automobile vendors.

In this report we look at a number of automobile manufacturers and energy companies who are already experimenting with hydrogen, electric and hybrid powered automobiles. These companies are attempting to build a knowledge base in alternative energy technology and improve the image of their brands as concerns over the environmental impact of private motoring begin to influence the consumer's choice of vehicle. However, for the automobile manufacturer, this is a risky strategy as it will prove difficult for incumbent players to commercialise next generation vehicles without cannibalising revenue from existing products.

The market for energy and automobiles will reach a tipping point when oil companies start to exploit unconventional sources of oil such as shale and tar sands. The cost of this process, in financial and environmental terms, will force the industry to look for alternatives, and the work already carried out on hydrogen and electric vehicles will merely serve to open up the market to new entrants. Even before this point is reached growing demand for electric powered vehicles will see electricity generators taking market share away from oil companies.

This report also examines the role of biofuels as component in an ‘As Is' scenario that would see the basic structure of the automobile market change little over the next two decades. While biofuels may postpone peak oil and help governments achieve emission reduction targets the environmental and geopolitical implications of large-scale biofuel production could merely replace one form of energy insecurity with another.

Today, governments are attempting to limit private motoring at a time when manufacturers are spending billions of dollars promoting automobile ownership. This report examines how governments are attempting to address a number of controversial issues related to automobile use, such as the growing number of elderly people who are no longer fit enough to drive a vehicle and the mismatch between highway infrastructure development and the growth in automobile use. Governments will increasingly avoid direct confrontation with the automobile industry lobby groups and instead support schemes, such as car clubs and other new vehicle use models that exploit the success of the social networking aspect of the Internet. This change of use will impact heavily on the business models of car hire companies and the sales of small automobiles for use as second vehicles.

Companies in this report include:-

Toyota, Honda, General Motors, BMW, ZAP World, Lysander, Transport For London, City Car Club and Greenergy

Technologies examined in this report include:-

Biofuels, hydrogen powered vehicles, hydrogen refuelling stations, electric vehicles, hybrid automotive technology, online lift sharing and car clubs, emission monitoring and congestion charging.

Who should purchase this report:-

-Automobile manufacturers.
-Energy Providers.
-Transport planners.
-Next generation vehicle manufacturers.
-Emission and congestion technology providers.
-Organisations with carbon reduction strategies.
-Investors.
-Energy strategists and policymakers.

CarbonFree reports are written for organisations who wish to exploit the growing market for renewable energy.

The automobile addresses the consumer's hierarchy of needs at two levels. It satisfies a secondary need by providing a means to travel and, as a visible display of the owner's wealth and status, it also satisfies tertiary needs. Automobile manufacturers are well aware of the role their product plays within a modern industrial society, as evidenced by the way their marketing messages have evolved over the years. By addressing multiple needs, the large incumbent vendors have been able to dominate the transport market for almost a century. While there has been rationalisation and the integration of manufacturers into large groups, there have been few new entrants into a market that grew rapidly soon after petroleum became widely available.

Today, however, the automobile industry faces a number of serious challenges. Companies within the energy sector are desperately seeking alternatives to imported oil - the energy source around which most of the refuelling infrastructure that supports automobile use has been built. Automobile manufacturers themselves are attempting to develop new vehicles that are less dependent on fossil fuels. Meanwhile new players are entering the automobile market with products that are better designed to meet the consumer's tertiary needs at a time when there is widespread concern over the impact that emissions from automobiles are having on the environment. Incumbent manufacturers, who have maximised the market for the automobile by marketing them as both a practical tool and a fashion accessory, now see their business model under threat as ‘green motoring' becomes fashionable.

There is also a change of sentiment within urban planning departments and other government agencies who, for many years, have taken a positive approach to automobile ownership and helped put in place much of the of the infrastructure that made the automobile indispensable for a majority of people. Today these same government agencies are designating areas of cities ‘automobile free', encouraging new models of automobile use such as car clubs and are introducing parking restrictions and congestion charges.

Despite these factors, the next generation automobile vendors attempting to enter one of the largest markets in the world are finding it difficult to displace firmly entrenched incumbent manufacturers. Support infrastructure for fossil fuel power transport has been built up over several decades and replacing, or duplicating, overnight may prove prohibitively expensive. In addition, the incumbent vendors such as General Motors, Toyota and BMW are attempting to reinvent themselves and reposition themselves in a market they fear provides too many opportunities to new entrants.

This report is based on research into the companies and technologies that are creating new models for automobile ownership and use. Also within this report is an assessment of the new fuels, such as hydrogen, that next generation automobile vendors hope will provide the power for their products.