Question of the Month: Which technology will power automobiles in 20 years?

e14 Question of the Month

The future of transportation is renewable energy. Electric vehicles are growing in popularity, and more resources are being invested into the development of hydrogen-powered vehicles. Take the poll and let us know what technology will power cars in the near future, and please elaborate in the Comments section below!

Christopher678 over 1 year ago

I'm say Hybrid because I think its pretty cool to have Electric cars
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anniel747 over 1 year ago in reply to SensoredHacker0

What's wrong with horse riding?
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LLNC over 1 year ago

I would not forget to take into account other sources such as geothermal and nuclear fusion, or many other technologies like (bio)fuel cells in the next 20 years.

Seems obvious that as soon as we stray from the endothermic engines -which had many years of evolution- we find some distress.

In order to power electric engines in the EVs, one might ask for a lighter battery that never needs to be recharged. This could lead us to consider even something like the radioactive decay of radioisotopes. Have you ever heard of batteries that last up to 28000 years and provide 3 kW/kg ?

Some of you heard about it(1;3) and this idea has been adopted in pacemakers (i.g. betavoltaic batteries), or in satellites (RTGs).
That said, one can have reservations about it, fine... (2)
link 1 PopularMechanics.com 2021
link 2 LiveScience.com 2024
Link 3 E14 Catwell's article

In 20 years. I see... What can be the business behind of doing something that is almost maintenance-free, never stops and never breaks? If certain technologies were elevated to the status of common heritage—similar to air, sunlight, or even treated like the oceans or Antarctica—we might eventually be able to advance, and abandon even the use of brakes and tires one day.

edit&refined for you> rev 0.2
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SensoredHacker0 over 1 year ago in reply to michaelkellett

Ever ride a horse? when it becomes profitable for a technology to be obsoleted, guess what happens.
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michaelkellett over 1 year ago in reply to SensoredHacker0

Once you've tried real life you'll never go back to the virtual kind !

MK
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SensoredHacker0 over 1 year ago

Automobiles will be illegal the second humanity realizes their cost.
environmental impact, maintenance, human life, infrastructure..
our utilization of vehicles is a glowing example of humanities utter
absurdity. realize telepresence.

like telephone poles and keyboards, how the hell are cars still a thing?

Power them? they shouldn't even exist.
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dougw over 1 year ago in reply to beacon_dave

It mostly depends on a willingness to revise automobile standards, and perhaps building the appropriate support infrastructure to enable small personal transporters to flourish.
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anniel747 over 3 years ago

Over unity.
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anniel747 over 3 years ago

Horses.
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Satch89 over 3 years ago in reply to javagoza

plus it gives back a sense of community where we see each other more often and socialize, and we get to connect more to nature. In a vehicle we are kind of in our own little box but I hope so too for fewer cars, so we can started connecting back with Mother Earth. nature, our planet, each other.
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