The days of gasoline cars are numbered as electric becomes more prevalent, and your grandchildren may never know a car that doesn't plug in, according to a Forbes editorial.
As green vehicle options increase and people become more aware of emissions, cars powered by gasoline will soon go the way of the Hummer, which ran on copious amounts of gasoline and disappeared from roads around 2008.
Around that year, "suddenly it was no longer socially acceptable to drive a car that boasted about its fuel inefficiency," Forbes contributor Devin Thorpe wrote. Hummer sales fell 67 percent from 2008 to 2009, and the General Motors unit closed in 2010.
Thorpe noted that price wasn't the problem--a Hummer was never cheap, but people who could afford the gas bought them. Instead, the issue was social perception: a Hummer was no longer a responsible car to drive.
Similar factors are falling into place that will eventually kill traditionally powered vehicles, according to Thorpe. Relating to the environment and availability, these shifts will ensure that in the near future, every car will be a plug-in.
One factor is the price of gas, which has always been perceived as too expensive. While it's unlikely that gas will ever be too pricey for us to keep driving gas-powered cars, the perception that we pay too much for gas will contribute to the downfall of traditional vehicles.
Views on pollution and global warming will also contribute to the rise of electric vehicles. High levels of emissions have troubled cities like Beijing, and pollution is an issue in Los Angeles and Salt Lake City as well. People are also becoming more aware of scientific data pointing toward global warming, although it hasn't yet become the majority mindset.
The Hummer died off quickly because it was easy to replace, and the growing prevalence of green cars will soon have the same effect. 2013 was a big year for green vehicles as such carmakers as Toyota revealed expanded eco-friendly lineups and eight states pledging to put 3.3 million electric vehicles on the road by 2025.
Today, "you'd be hard pressed to walk into a new car showroom today and not find at least one car you can plug in," Thorpe wrote. "We are not far from the point when it will simply become too easy to buy an all-electric or plug-in electric hybrid; there will be one for every taste and you'll be left with no excuse."
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