Yep, however .28/gal for gas which was the average price in 1958 inflated at a 4% rate would bring the price to $1.91 today. I just paid $3.74/gal. That's almost twice the inflation rate.When we first started using petroleum, we scooped it up in a bucket. Then we put down wells similar to water wells pumping the oil from just a few hundred feet. We developed more powerful wells and started bringing up oil form thousands of feet. Now we have offshore drilling platforms that bring oil up from miles under the surface. The cost is in hundreds millions and the potential for environmental damage is huge. In 50 years I have seen the cost of oil go from $2 a barrel to over hundred dollars a barrel. At the rate it has increased over the last 50 years, gas will cost over $100/gal by mid century.Of course big oil has. And the vast majority of that impact has been positive or don't you like having auto's and planes and trains? I am also not surprised you had no idea about the original electric cars, they were around even before the ICE vehicles got truly started and were the prime competetion for ICE powered vehicles. The fact remains however, when a ICE vehicle came along that cost less than half of the electric the electric was doomed. Not because of some big plot by big oil but because a niche market can only support a very small number of employees. The auto industry grew to the size it did because they could make cars cheap enough that the average working family could afford them. If all you had were a few rich people buying a few vehicles there would have been no road construction, there would have been very little advancement in technology etc.
You have to THINK about what goes on in the world. You can't just wish it. You have to analyse all that happens and then make a decision on what will work and what won't. The Tesla won't work because it is too expensive and not efficient enough. If they ever develop the technology to actually produce the S model they may stand a chance as a BMW
analog but I still doubt it because of the inherent difficulties of EV's.
To me it is not a question of when we will go to another primary fuel, it's a question of how fast.
The current demand will support a per barrel price of 50 dollars. All the rest is due to commodities brokers driving up the prices. You might also want to remember that your house was worth 8,000 dollars when oil was 2 bucks a barrel. That is called inflation. That part of the equation is due to the economic philosophy's of the ruling politicians.