With emissions regulations taking over the entirety of the motor industry, and the planet running out of oil for fuel, much time is being invested by auto makers to improve the technology of hybrid and electric cars. Tesla did this with the astonishing 100% electric Model S, and are constantly exploring ways to maximize the efficiency of electrical energy running cars. Hybrid technology is also constantly being revised, with Porsche, McLaren, and Ferrari releasing a new breed of hypercars that run on hybrid platforms. This is extremely important because it shows how cars can still be massively fast and also eco-friendly. Porsche’s 918 Spyder, for example make generates nearly 900 horsepower, yet can do 47 miles to the gallon. That is an incredible engineering accomplishment.
However, while it is all fine and dandy that electricity is being incorporated so successfully into the motor industry, there is still a technology that has been ignored, and technically is a far better solution to the emissions problem. That technology is Hydrogen power.
Hydrogen has been regarded as a viable fuel for many years, and has also found its fair bit of development in the motor industry. The use of hydrogen power has mainly been found in cars powered by hydrogen fuel-cells, which essentially is a system that uses the hydrogen fuel to generate electricity to power an electric motor that drives the wheels. This has already been used in production cars. A few years ago, Honda released a car named the FCX Clarity, which was only sold in California and ran on a hydrogen fuel-cell system. The only gas to escape the exhaust: H2O.
Other brands have been exploring the hydrogen-powered internal combustion engine. BMW has been developing this technology since the late 80s, and in 2006 release a limited production model dubbed the Hydrogen7, which was effectively a BMW 760 with the same V12 engine, but could run on either hydrogen or gasoline at the flick of a switch. When running on hydrogen power, all that came out of the exhaust was water vapor.
Hence, that technology exists, and has existed for many years, and I think car manufacturers should work to keep developing that technology and expand its infrastructure, finally solving the CO2 frenzy; to run electric and hybrid vehicles, fossil fuels are still needed and, though to a lesser extent, still will contribute to the release of CO2, with hydrogen technology, all we need is the most abundant element in the universe.