There was a lively discussion the other day between myself and a friend talking about where breakdown cover services will go in the future. It started with the huge rise in petrol costs that eventually will have an impact on what fuel we may choose in future years. Take the current hybrid cars, the Toyota being the most popular at the moment. What would the chances be that a breakdown could be caused by an electrical motor fault rather than a fuelled engine?
Well maybe not so high at the moment, it as hybrid cars are becoming more popular it only makes sense that eventually the fuel driven options will be reduced and electrical increased, meaning the breakdown cover patrol guys will probably need a new set of skills.

The argument above is based on electric powered cars, but there are other types of fuels going around, such as hydro and other fossil fuels and even chip fat. Petrol and diesel have dominated the world for half a century based on availability and speed. Every few miles a petrol station appears and you are full of fuel in a few minutes. If a solution is found for other fuel types, be prepared for multi fuel driven cars, needing breakdown cover emergency services, who can handle many types of driven power not just makes and models.

When the motoring clubs spent more time of road safety and motoring issue rather than just delivering insurance options, it would be them who would encourage changing fuels to suit the pocket, economy or even morale issues. Now it is down to the green brigade knowing that all fights will be with be against the might of the oil companies, something most governments want to avoid as most economies are reliant on such organisations.
So for now the AA, RAC and Green Flag can be content with offering breakdown cover mainly to petrol and diesel drivers, the future holds something a lot more complicated, even before the space ships arrive.