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

dychen

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!

  • Maybe some towns will use super capacitors and vehicles could charge up at every stop light...Relaxed

  • None (except for some elites)  Physical travel will be outlawed and replaced with enhanced virtual visitation.

  • You left out gasoline.

    The current combustion engine will still dominate because the infrastructure is already in place.

    None of the proposed replacements will be viable at enough locations to really replace them.

  • For some I could see a potential for a switch from the traditional car to a smaller personal urban transportation device. There appears to be a lot of interesting and fun-looking concept stuff out there already.

    I guess it will depend on where legislation is in 20 years whether or not some of the concept stuff can move to full production. At present a lot of it appears to be being used illegally as a) the legislation isn't there and b) it appears cheaper to pay the fine if caught, than to pay recurrent vehicle tax, insurance, MOT test, and parking charges as no-one has the resource to actively police it.

    So there could be the question of what does the automobile actually look like in 20 years.

  • Interesting question! I'm not sure about hydrogen being energy source for the everyday car

    image

    If an ICE engine is 25% efficient,  you are making use of approximately 8MJ/L of the energy in gasoline. So assuming a hydrogen powered drivetrain is 100% efficient. It would seem you would need the same volume of liquid hydrogen as gasoline to travel the same distance. SUVs have 80L gasoline fuel tanks. Not sure...  

  • Assuming we still have cars (most will be forced into mass transit by government dictat and economics) something not currently being considered.

  • I think it will be Hybrid. Infrastructure for electric needs to be developed. 

  • I recommend this video, which explains why hydrogen won't save us. Currently made mainly from fossil fuels, very complicated for storage and building the infrastructure.

  • in reply to cstanton

    I sense a fellow fan of Steam Punk.