Interesting motoring information can often be found in the finance pages of newspapers. Stumbled across a table showing the usage of fuel energy in any country versus how much fuel energy is produced in that country. If you have to import a large percentage of fuel for domestic use, your economy is not very secure.
The graph showed 25 countries and rated them as far as import to domestic production. Thailand came 24th! Apparently we import about two thirds of the oil we use.
Compare that to Mexico which exports, rather than having to import as Thailand is forced to do. Other countries that have an optimum balance are the UK, Norway, NZ, Denmark and Australia. Even the US has problems importing 45 percent of the fuel it used last year, but still not as bad as Thailand’s 66 percent.
With the majority of the European countries importing at least 50 percent of their needs it becomes rather easy to see just why the Middle East has risen to power and why so much automotive research is being poured into the electric/hydrogen/hybrid alternatives.
Unless OPEC reduce the price of crude oil (and don’t hold your breath), I expect to see electric vehicles on the roads in Thailand before the end of this decade.
