New fuel efficiency boosted, but not with gas or electricity
Gas prices are soaring, and climate change is accelerating, making the need for more fuel-efficient transportation greater than ever. In recent decades, internal combustion engines have dominated the auto industry, but their time may be coming to an end.
The automotive industry has introduced remarkable advancements in fuel technology that promise to significantly improve mileage while reducing emissions. This article provides a detailed look at the latest engines designed to achieve this vision.
BMW, for example, has unveiled a hydrogen-powered car that could rival Tesla’s electric vehicles in speed. Other innovations explore unconventional fuels, like ammonia and microwaves. This is the dawn of a new era in fuel efficiency.
More than 20 years investing on hydrogen engines: what BMW has done
Bringing the electro-hybrid drivetrain project back, BMW introduced its H2R hydrogen-powered engine concept in 2005. The engine is a modified version of BMW’s 6-liter V12 engine which is now used to run on liquid hydrogen.
Hydrogen’s properties as an energy carrier are the source of its high efficiency. In the engine, hydrogen and oxygen combine and the chemical reaction gives out energy and water is the only emission. The BMW’s engineers successfully optimized the engine’s combustion process.
Unlike the electric cars which have to use heavy batteries, the H2R keeps hydrogen fuel in a lightweight, insulated tank. This lets the car to have a long driving range like the gasoline car. The process of refueling is also fast and the entire process takes only a few minutes.
Why gas and electricity have not been a good option for BMW
The internal combustion engines nowadays have achieved much in terms of fuel efficiency in the past decades, although they still waste over two-thirds of the energy in gasoline. Classical gas engines will probably be limited to a certain level of efficiency improvements because of the existing obstacles, such as heat-loss.
Although electric cars are the solution of the problems caused by gas engines, they have also their own disadvantages. The weight and range of the EV batteries limit the design such as the EV car and the driving range between the charges.
Although, with the fast charging technology, most EVs still take more than 20 minutes to become 80% charged. This is the reason why long road trips are now very inconvenient and at the same time the battery capacity of the vehicle becomes very large which reduces the overall energy efficiency.
As you can see, these new hydrogen engines will multiply the thermal efficiency of fuels and, above all, reduce dependence on the most polluting ones. The key is to continue the line that manufacturers such as Stellantis are opening, which involves increasing large-scale production and continuing mass marketing, for which they have found partners such as Hyundai.