here are so many competing technologies at DVD, Farnborough Air Show and at the British Motor Show as the big guns go head to head to fight it out for badge of who’s greenest. Even the British Army is turning green aka camouflaged with introduction of Hybrid Drives and HUMS systems that report on uneconomical use of engine revs (scary thought) as we saw at the MAN stand at DVD.
I want to believe in Honda’s 20 year vision for Hydrogen Power and I do, I believe that their R&D into H2 power will position them globally for the next 100 years as well as their recent developments in jets, Honda evolve power by superior engine design and reliability something that will extend eventually into our homes or businesses making Hydrogen fuel stack technology a part of life itself. But I’ve worked with Hydrogen, plumbed it, cracked bottles of it and done plasma chemistry with it and it's a bugger; it's too small and too fast a molecule (diatomic H2): You just can’t keep it in, it’s the storage and utilisation safety that is the problem.
The question of automotive power evolution however was best addressed by Richard O. Schaum in his 2007 Presidential Lecture to the IMechE on Bridcage walk. The essence of which is that over the last 50 years of attempts; Turbine powered cars, Hydrogen Research, Biofuels and the like; the combustion cylinder has always come out on top. We were never the same since we discovered fire and it’s the enthalpy of combustion that looks set to remain our preferred means of fuelling transportation. Grasping this cleverly, Lotus have a Tri-fuel car, which seems to me more like an any fuel car, that uses an alcohol sensor to measure combustibility of
whatever goes in the tank. Hybrid engines of course seem set to remain and with good cause, the dream of electric Last but not least and let’s never forget it because they’ll find a way to tax us on it one day, 80% of a vehicle’s impact on the environment is thanks to burning fuels, a not inconsiderable 20% on its construction and consumption of materials. Enter Lotus once again at the 2008 British Motor Show with the Lotus Eco, made largely from friendly materials with solar cells built into the roof.
Why they don’t pass a law making solar cells on cars mandatory I don’t know. Probably because my previous employers won’t release the technology to upgrade from Silicon to Diamond solar cells; allegedly, apparently and written without prejudice.
