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fuel cells
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Alternatives to Fossil Fuels in Transportation Applications. Throughout the history of the automobile there has been a competition between the internal combustion engine, or ICE, and the electric motor. In the past the electric motor has never played a serious role in the industry and it has been the internal combustion engine that has been the power plant of choice around the world. Lately there have been several large advances in electric automobile technology such as new battery designs, extremely high efficient motors and lighter construction materials. There have also been several environmental issues such as pollution from the combustion of fossil fuels as well as the inevitable shortage of the supply of fossil fuels. These recent developments in the automotive industry have brought the electric powered car into the spotlight along with its cousin the hydrogen fuel cell powered car. It is clear that sometime in my generation there will be a major switch and our dependence on fossil fuels will be ended whether we are ready for it or not. Currently there are several hybrid cars that are available to the consumer. A hybrid car is one that is powered by both an electric as well as a high efficiency internal combustion engine. The Insight, which is manufactured by Honda and the Prius, which is manufactured by Toyota are two examples of hybrid cars that are currently available. Both of these vehicles employ similar technology for their gas and electric power. In city driving or whenever speeds are low the vehicles are powered by the electric motor but when on the highway or under heavy acceleration, the vehicle is powered by the gas motor. Both vehicles also employ a “regenerative braking” system, this set up helps to recharge the batteries whenever the car is braking. The batteries are also being recharged whenever the gas motor is running and this means that the car never needs to be plugged in, so the car recharges itself. I believe it is this approach that will most easily wean us off our copious consumption of fossil fuels (http://129.33.47.206/html/shop/vehicles/prius/technology/prius_technology.html. and http://www.hondacars.com/models/model_overview.asp?ModelName=Insight&BrowserDetected=True ). In the past, electric vehicles have always had a problem with weight because batteries are extremely heavy and until recently one would need a lot of batteries or a very large battery to attain a reasonable range from the vehicle. Recent technological advances have not really lightened the batteries at all, merely they have made the batteries capable of holding a larger charge so the same range can be attained with a smaller battery, thus less weight (Hamilton, William Electric Automobiles 1984, page 171).
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