It is not hard to argue that the internal combustion engine is one of the most important inventions of the 19th century, and that it strongly influenced the way human civilization has developed in the 20th century. The development of the motor vehicle both for the transportation of people, as well as goods, has made vast distances across land more accessible than ever before. However, fast forward a little more than one hundred years and that increased freedom of mobility is coming at a cost.

According to the IPCC’s 2014 report (ref 1), approximately 14% of all greenhouse gases put into the atmosphere globally each year are from road transportation. This translates to nearly 1,800 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent, of which 42% was from passenger cars, 13% from medium and heavy duty trucks, and, 18% was from light duty trucks, with the rest from other modes of transportation (ref 2). In addition to environmental concerns, there is also the issue that gasoline is a fossil fuel and thus a finite resource in the world.