Gasoline prices were soaring months ago, but for now their rise has slowed. But there seems to be little or no let up. Oil taxes and low supply are part of the reason, and with gas-guzzling suv’s a voracious trend, the effect becomes exacerbated. However, gas-electric hybrid vehicles are a fast developing fix, even my school principal owns one. Their miles per gallon rating is astounding, well up into the sixty to seventy miles per gallon range. For a commuter, these qualities are ideal, but for others there many things limiting electricity that make it outmatched by pure gasoline. In the future there must be a better answer.
First of all electricity is pure energy, it has no state of matter, and is difficult to store in a compressed state comparatively to what the work of gasoline does, but on the bright side it’s transported by wire. Another weakness of the hybrid stems from the lack of power. Practical uses of electricity for transportation already exist in subway lines, but subway motion is constant and uniform, the demanding nature of driving and the popularity of less aerodynamic vehicles make electricity seem lacking.
The hydrogen engine, or better known as the rotary engine in previous years, may be the basis for a next step in eco-friendly travel. The basics of this engine seem simple, but the implications were profound. Just like an internal gas combustion engine, the rotary engine burns fuel, but unlike the combustion engine, the processes of intake, compression, power and exhaust occur in different compartments. Its fuel is a dry hydrogen compound, or hydride. The workings of the engine doesn’t sound so radical, in fact designs for a prototype were made by Felix Wankel who was born in 1902 and early designs reach as far back as 1673! The result of the combustion besides an impressive amount of work is nothing more than water vapor. Nor is the engine markedly less potent than its rival, in fact most race tracks ban rotary engines all together to make the playing field level. Mazda has set forward plans to release vehicles based on this system if reception is good, a production viable model may be seen as similar to Mazda’s concept car RX- Evolv. However in the future an even more powerful fuel cell can solve all our energy problems all together, the only problem is that hydrogen tends to explode when it comes in contact with water. Technology is not yet sufficient to make it a reliable reality.
In final it really depends on the consumer, what the demand wants, it gets. If gas prices keep this pace, and foul nature of its combustion become unbearable, this fuel cell may come sooner than we think. In some ways these high prices are necessary to create such change. Other countries all over the world have it worse than the United States does, and as a result economies are slowing down. It’s time for human innovation to step in once again and clean up its mess, and be responsible for its gluttony of oil. In the meantime, we can look forward to more fuel efficient hybrid cars in the immediate future.