Advanced Vehicle Technologies

I think the case has been settled for some time that now that the economic and national security costs of our current reliance on oil are unacceptable. I don't think there's any real debate that the only way we're going to substantially affect that cost to our economy and to many of ourselves, our consumers, is to reduce the amount of oil we use in transportation. This means both increasing the efficiency of traditional combustion engines and increasing alternatives for powering vehicles. There are promising technologies today in alternative fuels, in increasing energy efficiency and in light weight materials. But because they are new and produced on smaller scales they are not yet seen as widely commercially available and viable.