Road to the future

• Tim Dean
• 7 July 2009
• Page 1 of 2 : single page

No one yet knows exactly what the sustainable technology of the future will be, but there’s no shortage of contenders. From electric or petrol-electric hybrids to hydrogen or biofuel, there is a broad spectrum of technologies all hotly competing to dethrone the internal combustion engine as the foundation of our personal and public transportation.

The race is on to find the transportation technology of tomorrow. We profile some of the most exciting and promising developments in automotive transport, which could well be powering you to work in a decade or two.

Hybrids

There are broadly two flavours of hybrid vehicle: serial and parallel. The former uses an electric motor to actually turn the wheels, with the power for the electric motor coming from either batteries or a petrol or diesel generator. The design is well suited for stop-start driving, such as city traffic, making it a popular option for buses. Mercedes-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and others already have series hybrid buses undergoing testing by public transport authorities in cities around the world.

Parallel hybrid uses an electric motor and an internal combustion engine to power the wheels. In slow moving or stop-start traffic, the electric motor takes charge, but when extra power is needed, the internal combustion engine fires up and operates like a regular vehicle.

A slight variation on this principle is Toyota’s popular Prius. This employs both serial and parallel approaches so the internal combustion engine can also directly power the electric motor or charge the batteries.

There’s a lot of interest in hybrids, with notable brands such as Toyota, Lexus, Honda, General Motors and Ford having retail offerings today, from small compact cars right through to the high performance V8 hybrids. In fact, SUVs and V8s are likely to make up the bulk of the next generation of hybrids, as they get the most benefit from the technology for the added cost.

Plug-in hybrids

With a plug-in hybrid, you can hook it up to a power outlet and charge the batteries when it’s not in use. This means it can benefit from the low cost of off-peak electricity and avoid using the internal combustion engine unless absolutely necessary. Yet the presence of the internal combustion engine gives the vehicle extended range, extra power and the ability to refuel virtually anywhere, particularly as recharging still takes substantially longer than filling the tank with gas.

"Plug-in electric vehicles could account for two-thirds of kilometres travelled in Australia by 2050"

Many manufacturers, including Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen and General Motors, are exploring plug-in hybrids for cars and buses, with a range of vehicles expected to come on the market over the next few years. The CSIRO’s Fuel for thought report, released June 2008, suggests “plug-in electric vehicles (with or without an internal combustion engine for longer range driving) could account for up to two-thirds of kilometres travelled in Australia by 2050”.

Hybrid bikes

Several motorcycle and scooter manufacturers around the world are also exploring the idea of hybrid bikes. The Piaggio HyS range are parallel hybrids that can also be plugged into a standard power outlet for charging. Piaggio currently has three versions on the market, including a hybrid version of the iconic Vespa. Hybrid motorcycles and scooters are still in their early days, although as hybrid components become more compact and less expensive, we can expect to see more arrive on the market in several years time.

Electric

The principle behind an electric vehicle is straightforward: one or more electric motors drive the wheels and these draw their power from batteries. One of the benefits is that electric motors offer substantially higher efficiencies than internal combustion engines. Electric motors also deliver sprightly acceleration at all speeds.

However, there are a few barriers to getting electric vehicles on the road. The first is range; few electric cars can travel more than 100 kilometres in a single leg. This limited range is compounded by the time it takes to recharge. Many electric cars take several hours to receive a full charge.

Yet electric cars are becoming ever more appealing, and even audacious, as the Tesla Roadster attests. This electric sports car released in 2008 is capable of prodigious acceleration, an impressive top speed of over 200km/h and a range of nearly 400km. However, most manufacturers have more modest ambitions, with several, such as Nissan, Dodge and Mitsubishi, developing small city commuter cars.

One example of what future electric cars might look like is the Mitsubishi MiEV. This wee four seater has a maximum speed of 130km/h and extends out to 160km on a single charge. It has 70% less emissions than a small petrol car (assuming it’s using electricity generated from a conventional power station), costs one third as much to run per kilometre than a petrol car and has 30% better acceleration than a petrol turbo. It also has a quick charge feature when using specialised outlets that will bring it to 80% capacity in 30 minutes.

One of the criticisms of electric cars is that they’re not strictly zero emission, as their power often comes from conventional fossil fuel power stations. Yet even this can be alleviated with the introduction of a sustainable energy generator. One potentially popular approach is to install solar panels on your house or garage and use solar energy to charge the batteries when the car is not in use.

Diesel

Diesel is easier to refine than petrol and has higher energy density, meaning diesel cars tend to get greater mileage from the same size tank. Diesel engines have also improved in leaps and bounds in recent decades, to the point where they emit less greenhouse gasses per litre than petrol engines and provide impressive performance.

European car manufacturers have placed particular emphasis on the development of high efficiency diesel engines, with companies such as Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen producing high quality, high performance diesels with excellent mileage. Pundits are split over whether diesel or hybrid vehicles will take the fore, so expect to see a real battle royal between diesel and hybrids in the coming years. Europe tends to back diesel, Japan hybrids, although the great arbiter may end up being the titanic US market, which will inevitably affect what technologies we see here in Australia.

Biofuels

One enticing alternative fuel requires little change to existing engine technology, yet promises to lower emissions. It’s biofuel: fuel created from organic sources. Ethanol-petrol blends are already widely available in Australia, although uptake has been slow, driven by concerns voiced by auto manufacturers and bodies such as the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) that ethanol can be damaging to the engine, especially in foreign-built and older cars.