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!

ARK69 over 3 years ago

Using the earth's magnetic field
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dougw over 3 years ago in reply to e14 Contributor

Most of earth's materials are more or less a zero sum game, you can change their composition but not the total amount on the planet. We can try to make the planet more comfortable for most humans, but we aren't significantly changing the total amount of any element here.

The earth does lose over 30,000 tons of atmosphere per year, mostly hydrogen, but it also accumulates over 40,000 tons of meteor material each year. The gas loss may be a reason for us not to be releasing hydrogen into the atmosphere at some point, but it probably isn't an immediate concern.
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michaelkellett over 3 years ago in reply to e14 Contributor

This is not correct. Hydrogen used as fuel is (usually) made by electrolysis of water, splitting it up into oxygen and hydrogen by using electrical energy. The oxygen is released to the atmosphere and the hydrogen is oxidised by atmospheric oxygen at the point of use later on. The process is 100% circular as far as water is concerned. If the electrical energy is generated by a renewable process the whole cycle is harmless.

There are some issues, but a water shortage is not one of them.

MK
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e14 Contributor over 3 years ago

We already have a shortage of water.. hydrogen is not a renewable energy source.. it will negatively impact oceanic ecology.
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michaelkellett over 3 years ago in reply to GabrielP

Please quote one actual example.

MK
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GabrielP over 3 years ago

I believe we will use zero point energy for any and all energy needs, including cars and flycraft. Over unity electrical machines already are used in Australia and it takes only a few short years to be improved and made small enough to be included in cars and drones. But I see hydrogen cars being developed before that.
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DAB over 3 years ago

Looking to the future, only Hydrogen would provide enough versatility to be used for most people.

Electric vehicles are ok for city use where you can maximize recharge stations, but for the country folk, they are just not feasible.

Also, the effort to recycle electric batteries will consume a lot of resources that the use of Hydrogen avoids.
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Magurch over 3 years ago

Magnetic propulsion
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robogary over 3 years ago in reply to dougw

There you go, rf toll highways with induction charging embedded in the pavement. Drive forever without stopping.
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beacon_dave over 3 years ago in reply to DAB

Likely to depend on region but over here two years ago the government decided to ban the sale of new cars with gasoline engines with effect from 2030. So even if everyone buys a new gasoline powered car just before the ban kicks in and they last 10 years to 2040, then that's short of 2023 + 20.

As you say, the infrastructure is going to be interesting as the projection here is for less than 1 rapid charge point per existing petrol station by 2035, even if the roll-out goes to plan. I'm guessing they reckon that a lot of people will opt to charge at home/work and treat that as part of the infrastructure already in place and concentrate on infrastructure on main routes and park and ride schemes.
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