The Realistic Future of Motors
We frequently hear that fossil fuels are going to be phased out and more restrictions and bans coming on internal combustion engines, it leaves the question of what is going to happen. We will see bans happen in many places around the world. The goal of these countries is to be zero emission, but this may not be a direct solution to reducing greenhouse gases.
Currently Norway will be the first country to ban the sales of vehicles with internal combustion engines in 2025. The Eu has put a ban on sales on fossil fuel vehicles in 2035. So far there are 17 US states that have decided to also follow ban in 2035. China has not signed an outright ban on fossil fuel vehicles. China has put restrictions on Beijing where after 2030 the sale of electric cars will be banned, and they plan to slowly phase out the sale of cars with internal combustion engines.
Even after these dates you will still be able to buy the fuel for these cars. These countries have only put a ban on buying new vehicles with combustion engines, not private sales of these used cars. The average car lasts around 15 years meaning that we could see gas cars on the road in the 2050s. These bans may get us to zero emissions from commercial vehicles, but it might have unintended repercussions.
Internal combustion engine's futures
The 2 types of vehicles that are going to be allowed with all the bans are going to be electric vehicles (EV) and hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV). Electric vehicles are a quite common type of vehicle now. You simply charge them and then the car uses electric motors to move around. Hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles are remarkably similar in the way that they use electric motors to move around. The main difference in the FCEVs is that they require hydrogen to make the electricity. These cars have a tank that is filled with pure compressed hydrogen gas. This hydrogen allows the fuel cell to create electricity rather than a charger. This allows you to refill your car at about the same speed you would fill it up with gasoline.
We could still use our combustion engines that we have already designed and have zero emission. On modern motors we use fuel injectors to put gasoline into engines more efficiently. These injectors could easily be swapped out into a hydrogen injection kit. This will create combustion like a gasoline engine and the only biproduct created by this is pure water. This sounds like the easiest solution to zero emissions but there is a downside to this, the efficiency rating. These engines are nowhere near as efficient as a hydrogen fuel cell. Scientists have proven that hydrogen combustion engines can only get about 40% efficiency while we have much less knowledge on hydrogen fuel cells and can get upwards of 50% efficiency already.
The problems with current "zero emissions"
Both hydrogen and electric vehicles have large issues that are overlooked in the “zero emission” campaign. It all comes down to the fact that they truly are not zero emissions. Hydrogen has many ways to obtain it. There is green, blue, and grey hydrogen. That does not refer to an actual color of hydrogen but how it was obtained. Green hydrogen produces no carbon dioxide in the making of it. The most common way of obtaining green hydrogen is to use electricity in water to split apart water molecules. This produces hydrogen and oxygen gas. Both blue and grey hydrogen use fossil fuels to make. Blue hydrogen uses carbon capture and deposits the emissions far underground. Grey hydrogen just releases the emissions into the air. Green hydrogen uses the same electricity as electric vehicles. This electricity is far from being zero emission considering that most of the world energy comes from fossil fuels. We will have to have an increase in electricity production. This is going to cause the issue of trying to develop more green energy solutions or we will use those same fossil fuels in the electricity that we are using to power electric vehicles. Nuclear power is also controversial and could create issues if we must use that to power our cars.
Electric vehicles also have large issues with pollution and ethics. The world's largest producer of electric vehicles is China. China produces the most pollution out of any other country on earth. They do not have to have as strict regulations on their energy produced by fossil fuels. The lithium-ion batteries that an electric vehicle uses need substantial amounts of cobalt to function. These mining operations usually take place in countries that have social issues that make it, so they do not have many restrictions on pollution. One of the most famous brands of electric cars is tesla and most people do not realize what must happen to get one. A tesla battery factory outside of berlin, shut down because there was an undocumented cooling tank that could have caused severe ecological damage. Tesla has been removed from the S&P 500 stock index. ESG made this decision because Elon Musk refused to release any information about their environmental data to the CDP. Tesla uses to mines in South Africa to get the cobalt needed to make the lithium-ion batteries inside their cars. These mines have unsafe and dangerous conditions that are not regulated. The adult workers are paid on average 70 cents and the children are usually paid about 7 cents a day. These mines violate many human rights and barely pay these people. People believe that only tesla is the main company that is behind all of this, but all electric car companies use the same methods as tesla to get lithium-ion batteries. Tesla is not the only one contributing to this issue but because of Elon Musks controversial decisions.
We will see heavy machinery also switch to full electric and hydrogen fuel cells. This has many pros and cons. Starting with the with the price of running this equipment, electric would be the cheapest to operate while hydrogen would be more expensive. It will still be cheaper than running diesel. The cons that we will see with full electric is that you cannot run this equipment constantly. There are many operations where hydrogen fuel cells would be far superior to electric because they can be refilled fast and return to operations.
Hydrogen Combustion engines
There is one area that we may see combustion engines stay around in and that is in racing. Many racing leagues already have emission standards. This creates a problem because performance motors often create many more emissions than a standard engine. Hydrogen combustion engines could solve both problems. Hydrogen combustion engines produce no emissions, but you can use all the same parts you would as a gasoline engine. In fact, Yamaha and Toyota have worked together to research more on how to make efficient hydrogen combustion engines. They have created a 5.0 liter naturally aspirated V8 engine that runs completely off hydrogen. It produces 450 horsepower, 400 pounds of torque and no emissions. This engine could be a step in the right direction if other companies decide to follow their ideas.
We can assume that we will see bans on the sales of vehicles that use fossil fuels, but we will still be able to use these vehicles. Even after we see the disappearance of fossil fuels, we still would be able to power these engines with hydrogen. This should be a small relief to true motor enthusiasts because the motor will be around for a while.
My solution to keeping the internal combustion engine around would be replace oil and gas with hydrogen. The cars that would have these internal combustion engines would not be efficent but they would be replace what we enjoy now. The targeted audience would be the same people that drive unefficent cars powered by gas and diesel. This would be a great thing because these engines could have no emissions control and these people can do whatever they want with them. It could be the green solution to a issue that many people fear.