It is darkest just before getting even darker

After some thought, it appears that the trailer idea is flawed.  It won't work economically.  The problem is that the cost isn't better than just renting a car.  I figured that range extension would improve the sales of battery powered cars, but the cost of fuel cells is just too high to make that work.

It is a discouraging thought.  For one thing, getting a large enough supply of platinum so as to lower prices won't be easy.  It won't happen soon, and it may not ever happen at all.  In addition, the progress of finding other catalysts to replace costly platinum does not appear to be very fast.  Finally, there appears to be significant skepticism in some quarters that this will ever work at all.

That leaves batteries.  I haven't heard much news on that subject for the last several years.  At one time, I was a bit more optimistic about batteries.  Not so much now.  It's taking too long.

With electrical cars not in the cards soon, we are left with internal combustion engines.  That's unsettling because of the hostility that the environmentalists have for fossil fuels.  Biofuels may be possible, but it will need an assist from electricity.  It is probably going to be hard to make all of that drop-in capacity from biofuels.  Biofuels can only serve to make fossil fuels go further.  It can't be a substitute.

It is encouraging that a lot of fossil fuel supplies are said to be coming to market in the next few years, but that is going to meet with some strong political opposition.

Politics is a problem, not a solution.   The left's solutions are not going to be pleasant.  The left just got mostly a green light to continue its hostility to the one option that will work.

I'm getting a bad feeling about this.  The outcome of the election was not encouraging.  Innovations are not progressing as fast as needed.  Political trends are moving in the wrong direction.  Not looking good.

A bright spot?  There's still the possibility of getting that platinum from space.  But it won't get much help from Uncle Sam.

Houston, we have a problem.