Gas or Gas?

Whats Going to Power the Cars of Our Future?

Konrad Campbell
UWRT 1104
 So, what will power the cars of the future? Well since you presumably read the title, it

more than likely will be gas. Gas? But dont we already use gas to power our cars? What about

all this stuff about electric cars and other forms of technology? Today gasoline powers more

than 80% of all vehicles in the U.S. according to the U.S. Energy Department. However, there

is a new promising technology that will be powering our cars in the future. It seems the future of

the automotive market is indeed water. The same substance that has been powering us humans

for centuries may soon be coming to our cars, just in a slightly different form.

Well, before we can get into how water is going to magically power our cars we should

probably investigate what we are already using in our cars today. Today nearly all road vehicles

are powered by the internal combustion engine. This is a pretty reliable and proven technology,

and while I may be partial to it, it is also an aging technology. In a period of such high pollution

it simply isnt feasible to continue using these engines due to their inefficiencies and pollutants .

An average gasoline combustion engine has an efficiency of about 20% (Roy Rex), which is

quite wasteful as most of the energy from the fuel is converted to heat rather than usable energy.

But, so what if its only 20% efficient right? I mean Im a college student, Im 20% efficient at

my best. Well, in the small scale it doesnt really sound too bad. But in the large scale it is quite

significant. For example, theres about 260 million cars in the U.S. alone. When you take 80%

of those cars youre left with 208 million cars, which are just wasting fuel. That just the average

fuel consumption, now consider all the emissions, and space taken up by these machines .

Youre probably thinking now, Wow, I never really thought about it that way. Are there

any new things we can do to fix this?. Maybe. Auto-manufacturers have been coming up with
both new technologies and ways to innovate upon what they already have . An example of this is

the catalytic converter. When the U.S. started imposing new regulations on the auto-companies

in the 1970s, they had to come up with something to make their engines meet the new regulation.

So, what did they do to the engine? Nothing. Instead of fixing the problem, they just put a

catalytic converter on the exhaust system and Abracadabra! the problem went away. But

while the auto-manufacturers did this, they also researched a lot of alternatives to the combustion

engine.

Some examples of this are Chryslers extensive research into gas turbine engines (Hans-

Joachim Braun) or GMs research of the Wankle Engine (Hinckley, Robinson). Both companies

saw the usefulness of the technologies and tried to develop them to be reliable and cost-effective

enough to put into our cars. Gas turbines showed promise as they could run off nearly anything

from heavy diesel fuel to tequila (S, really). Chrysler made a production run of 55 cars powered

by turbine engines for consumer testing, and the results were surprising. Nearly everybody who

was testing them for Chrysler loved them, as they could run off nearly anything and there was no

need for shifting gears. However due to the fuel crisis of the 1970s, the engine that could run off

nearly anything was scrapped due to diminished purchases and a part of a bailout deal with the

Federal Government.

So, whyd I tell you this? Well to give you some insight into different technologies that

have been considered to be used in cars or are currently used. But this list is a pretty long one,

with examples including diesel engines, which are gasoline engines that run off thicker fuel with

compression rather than spark, or hybrid systems where a gasoline engine is run alongside an
electric motor to increase the efficiency of the vehicle. Other examples include solar panels to

charge batteries in electric cars, full electric cars, the Wankle (rotary engine), etc . But this isnt

what you came here for. You didnt come this far to learn about all those methods. Youre here

for the meat, the true substance of this research, the future of the car. Should I keep you in

suspense a little longer? No, Ive done that long enough already. In my opinion I believe the

future of the car lies in the hydrogen fuel cell.

Why the hydrogen fuel cell you ask? Its simple really. Its an efficient system that

works off of water. Surprising, right? Probably not if youve been paying attention, I did mention

it at the beginning after all. But hows water going to power a two-ton car? How do you get the

power from it? It actually works off the chemical process of electrolysis in an extremely

controlled environment. Energy is released when water molecules are made from the

combination of Oxygen, and Hydrogen, hence the namesake of the technology. However, in

order for the water to be reassembled, the molecule must first be broken apart, which does

require some energy. While it takes energy to split the molecule, more energy is received when

it is put back together, thus allowing the excess energy to be able to be converted to electricity to

power an electric motor to propel the car (California Air).

Sounds pretty good, right? The U.S. Congressional Science Committee thought so too, so

whatd they do? In 2003, they initiated the FreedomCAR program, whos only goal is to

research hydrogen technology and to improve upon it until it becomes a reliable technology for

use in cars (U.S. Congress, Science). After this was presented to the Committee of Science,
research was started by the team of both government and private entities to research this

relatively new technology.

While hydrogen fuel cells sound great, there are some significant obstacles that must be

overcome before they head into large scale production. A simple example of this is theyre

heavy. A gallon of water weighs about 8.34 lbs., and when you consider a car powered by

hydrogen fuel cells has about 20 individual cells each about a gallon thats about 166.8 lbs. for

your battery. When you consider an average car battery only weighs about 20-30 lbs., thats a

significant increase. Plus, normally there is another battery alongside the fuel cells to store

excess energy along with the weight of the electric motor, which is essentially a solid mass of

copper wire and steel.

So why do I believe that this is the future of modern cars? Well I think thats a pretty

involved question. But in simple terms its a simple and clean technology to replace the batteries

we use in car currently. Right now, most car batteries are made with a Lithium base which is a

quite reactive element when exposed to air, so if its used in large batteries it could be more

dangerous than conventional fuel tanks. But also since there is no need for these heavy

materials, such as Lithium, there will also be a decrease in the demand for such materials which

would slow or at the least diminish the impact mining for materials such as Lithium would have.

As Lithium mining typically involves the process of electrolysis, as much of the worlds Lithium

is contained within brine. As a result a batch of Lithium takes about 18-24 months to produce,

which is a long time in todays fast-paced society. But the big reason I see this as a feasible

technology in upcoming cars is the increase in electric cars in the last two decades . This
resurgence in interest for these cars, in my opinion, have led to research to improve the battery

and charging systems which have led to technologies such as the hydrogen fuel cell . As well as

the fuel cell being fueled by water, the presence of the water also leads to added safety in the

event of a crash, as the gaseous hydrogen would be reabsorbed by the rush of water flowing to

the path of least resistance, minimizing the chance of it combusting. Since the hydrogen gas is

so flammable, the water adds a layer of safety which many other batteries cant provide as if a

normal battery is punctured it is normally a dangerous situation due to the highly reactive nature

of Lithium.

Another benefit I see with the use of hydrogen fuel cells to power electric cars is the

drastically lowered need for oil. While this probably wont become a reality for quite a while, it

is still a benefit of the slow transition to electric cars which seem to be the future of the

automobile. Some benefits of the lack of oil need would be things such as the lowered need for

oil-tankers to be travelling the seas with the potential to spill hundreds of thousands of gallons of

oil into the sea or to decrease the potential of wars due to the power-grab for such a desirable

commodity. While things like this would be quite a way down the road, they are still a benefit

from switching to a new technology such as hydrogen fuel cells.

For these reasons, I believe that the hydrogen fuel cell will be the future of the car.

While I dont like the idea of a silent car, I see that the trends of the automotive market have led

the car to be going in this direction due to the consumption of fossil fuels and pollution caused

by cars used today. So yes, the future of the car lies in water. The new thing in cars is really

only 4 billion years old but hey the wheels an old invention and were still using it. So long as

the technology is reliable, well adapt it to where it can be used.

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Roy, Rex. "Are Gas Engines Now More Efficient Than Diesel?" Popular Mechanics. Popular
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