My guess (and everyone from the bloke down the pub to Elon Musk is guessing to some extent) is that we'll see a mix of technologies in their appropriate niches ...... the batteries required to hammer a 40 ton artic from London to Inverness overnight have yet to be invented (and may be decades away or never) ..... probably AI organised electrified railways constantly looking at the available power on the grid from renewables and nuclear (hopefully sometime fusion rather than fission) shuffling driverless trains to optimise miles vs available power ..... fuel cell trucks to distribute from rail depots and electric rail and buses plus battery electric city cars and scooters for urban transit.
As Howard says ... energy use reduction will play as big a part as generation both in terms of low energy tech and lifestyle and social changes.
K
I think that the need for variety of power sources for different purposes rings very true.
It is perhaps ironic though that the goods distribution methodology mentioned takes one back to the late 1940s and 1950s when the British Transport Commission and British Railways, in particular, were evaluating a wide variety of motive power sources in respect of national and local goods distrubution. This saw the adoption of electric vehicles such as the Helecs articulated truck which played a part in this (a collaboration with Jensen MotorsI believe) although the gradual rise of the conveyance of goods to the road network gradually saw the demise of such local distribution. Interesting to note that even as late as nationalisation there were still more than 10,000 horses being used for such purposes although this had reduced from nearly 30,000 over a thirty year period. Perhaps there is a future for horses? - Oh, sorry I had overlooked the methane problem!
