From China to Japan to the USA to Germany, the race for clean, sustainable energy has been the talk for scientists as climate change is a major concern. The United States of America has spent billions of dollars researching these clean energy sources. One such company is the automobile company known as Stellantis, which is the world’s largest car manufacturer, operating as the parent company for 14 sub-brands, which include Fiat, Peugeot, and Jeep. They have budgeted over 6 billion dollars for the manufacturing and testing of various hybrid combustion car engines that use ethanol and diesel. This by far is the largest investment ever made in the automobile industry. Ethanol, commonly known as alcohol, is readily accessible from the fermentation of sugar, e.g., sugar cane. This process has already been used by Brazil, where the cars are to be made. Stellantis stated that the cars are to be made in Brazil but were developed by the United States of America. The bio-hybrid engines are theorized to be able to alternate between gasoline and ethanol freely, along with an electric motor and batteries for auxiliary power. This innovation is highly impressive, and we cannot wait to see it in action in the near future. While ethanol-powered cars might seem amazing, wait till you get a glimpse of what a group of Japanese researchers in the Quantum Machine Unit of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) Japan are working on. Their recent reports showed they have developed a prototype car that one could refer to as a hoverboard. They created a track that provides magnetic levitation for the car, which does not need external maintenance power. And by properly harnessing the superior properties of superconductors, they were able to make a self-sustaining levitating car. This idea has been tested before in Japan’s Mag-lev bullet trains, but unlike the bullet trains that require high amounts of electrical power to charge the electromagnets, this working prototype does not. It works by mixing graphite powder with wax and infusing it with high magnetic fields that can last for very long times. This idea of levitation has eliminated energy loss through friction and hence requires very little power to move. With no engine, hydrogen, or electric motor needed, these new cars might just soon get the recognition they deserve in the automobile world. But they are minor problems, as it would be harder to scale it up for more passenger capacity and energy loss in the graphite and magnets. Permanent magnets are like batteries, and like batteries, their power weakens over time or the more work it performs; this could be a major setback as they would need much more powerful magnetic fields to sustain a life-size version. These problems may seem a lot, but in the near future, and with great minds working on it, we hope to see this technology actualized in the near future. Again, while China and Japan are forerunners in hydrogen engine research, Germany, like Stellantis, has decided to go the other route and use methanol-powered cars engines. Methanol, when combusted, emits low levels of carbon pollutants into the atmosphere, similar to ethanol. The only difference is that methanol has one carbon atom, while ethanol has two. Also, methanol is toxic if inhaled or consumed, but if handled properly, it could be the next best thing in the automobile industry. All these advancements are good news as they tackle the challenge of global warming and the huge energy required worldwide, and we hope more ideas like these are actualized for a better future.
Source: Viewers Corner News