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Looking into the future of the electric drive energy
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Electricity for EVs, and then what?
So the electric drive is the way to go, but lies beyond heavy batteries? What other form of energy could we eventually use for transportation?
The gist is that if it is obvious the entire auto industry is heading down the electric drive highway, it might not be a bad idea to look even further down the road and see what other technologies might fuel the future energy needs of transportation. If lithium batteries promise much there will be at some point a better energy storage solution, most likely with the help of ultracapacitors. There still is a need for energy, anywhere, at any time.
Conductive Highways. If carrying energy on-board has its advantages, it also carries a considerable disadvantage, mainly that of weight. Weight is the number one enemy with the automobile as it exponentially draws more and more energy to propel it. This explains how gas engines that became little more efficient than they should be as cars became heavier. So what about having a way to feed electricity as cars drive? Research into making highways as giant solar panels while transforming its energy into electricity and feeding it onto cars driving makes for some interesting possibilities. Mazda has been working on such a project called KAAN.
Getting Energy Out Of Nowhere. Probably the more far fetched but not so impossible energy solution is tapping that intense energy stuck in the vacuum of space. In the realm of quantum mechanics, pure vacuum has a lot of energy at an unstable state. How do we tap into it? Dubbed the Zero Point Field, the idea would be to extract energy from this vacuum and using its unlimited source. And before you start laughing, remember how many innovations Star Trek spurred in the minds of brilliant scientists?
Alternative Energy On Wheels. Of course, at this stage another quickly approaching technology that has been maturing at an even pace is renewable alternative energy on the go, on your car. Solar panels are becoming more energy efficient, lowering their weight and raising the energy density makes them likely candidates to one day power electric vehicles, EVs completely on their own.
Compressing Air. MDI has been in the news a lot lately with their Airpod being tested in France and the Netherlands, and Tata has licensed their technology. The idea of compressing air to expanded in cylinders is not new but has become refined enough to make sense, even on a financial basis. The Achilles heel is finding a way to compress air cleanly. One way, would be use solar panels, wind turbines and hydro energy to feed a compressor. Compressed air cars make sense in cities, especially for fleets.
There are many other techniques that are being investigated and even developed. As a race, we have conquered obstacles once thought of as insurmountable. It is intriguing to know that we can split atoms that we cannot see and sending people on the moon yet balk at how 150 miles is not enough for our transportation tastes. Who knows what else will be invented and who knows what the future holds.
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