Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Short of a revolution in Saudi Arabia, or something along those lines, oil/gas costs aren't going to go up 10x. Although gas isn't perfectly linked to oil prices, a barrel of oil isn't going to hit $450 anytime soon. There's far too much accessible oil at under $100/barrel for this to occur.


Exactly, people seem to forget how many oil sources are out there which become profitable at about $100 a barrel.


In addition, the fuel cost-per-mile (so I'm ignoring maintenance), is capped at about 30-40x that of an electric as we already know how to directly convert air and water into gasoline or ethanol substitutes at approximately that energy ratio (~10x the chemical energy, plus ~3-4x the thermodynamic efficiency of car versus battery cycle)


And MANY oil substitutes start making sense around $150 a barrel.




Consider applying for YC's Winter 2026 batch! Applications are open till Nov 10

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: