Confused.com sent out an email to thousands of people last night with the above title, linking to the following article on its website: http://www.confused.com/car-insurance/ar...

The point they are making is that Diesel is now more and more popular.... but it that also a fuel that has had its day? it's no secret that the world is running out of oil and when you think about it, it's pretty daft that hundreds of millions of us are burning oil derivatives to drive around individually in one ton vehicles.

Have we reached the point now that we really need to move away from cars and rely much more on public transport and sustainability- i.e. not travelling such long distances and eating food that has been grown locally rather than flown in from other parts of the world?

I do think, in the UK especially, the demand for public transport is becoming greater. The reason being that it isn't just the cost of fuel that is constantly increasing, but everything. There are always new congestion charges being implemented to try and reduce the amount of traffic on the roads, increased toll charges, and increased parking costs or permit areas because the government is trying to reduce the number of vehicles on the road.

However, although public transport is regular in large cities such as London, like Harry has identified, there are still more rural (and not so rural areas) that have not provided a useful public transport system. I'm from Sussex but I remember visiting one of my friends in Cambridge and I literally had to wait an hour for a bus just to take me back to the station. That's a city! Crazy.

Although, in the UK, following the Olympics there does seem to be a bit of a cycling craze on the go. It seems we've given up on both public transport and cars in favour of a health kick! Especially because of the congestion as well as it's free to ride a bike (no road tax, no congestion charges, no parking charges and no fuel). This isn't all people trying to be road racers, but more just using it as an alternative method of transport. Retro is the big thing in the UK at the moment though. I've seen lots of people on cruiser bikes.


They are a great method of transport, get your pins looking toned and smoking hot as well as you looking good whilst you cycle. Not sure if this is as big in America but it's definitely a trend here.

I have to budget at the start of the month for my car thinking about how much fuel I may need to purchase. It used to only cost me £65 to fuel my diesel car for a full tank, now it costs me nearly £80 (trains have started to look much more attractive, if only they were always on time)

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We might be running out of natural oil but synthetic diesel and petrol is easy to manufacture.
Germany used synthetic fuel for the last year of WW2 when their oil supply was cut off.

Oil will soon have had it's day.

Yes. But public transport isn't the solution everywhere. You need a certain population density for even a bus system to be feasible.


Battery technology is constantly improving and there's also biofuels. And it is absolutely possible to make an electric truck. It has already been done for a few commercial/government applications. Beijing has 3000 electric garbage trucks. Diesel trains are really electric powered. The diesel powers a generator, electric motors power the wheels.