The future of Automobilism

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One of the inventions that changed the course of the world as we know it today is a car. Ever since Carl Benz constructed the first automobile ever made, Benz Patent Motor Car the world was never the same as it was before.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Carl Benz made Benz Patent Motor Car in 1886. On January 29, 1886, Carl Benz applied for a patent for his “vehicle powered by a gas engine.” The patent – number 37435 – may be regarded as the birth certificate of the automobile. In July 1886 the newspapers reported on the first public outing of the three-wheeled Benz Patent Motor Car, model no. 1.

benz no 1
Benz Patent Motor Car

After the Benz Patent Motor Car was made, Carl’s wife Bertha took upon a long voyage of 180 km to visit her sister and show the world one of the greatest inventions human eye has ever seen. After the fall of Benz Sons company, the Benz name was attributed with Daimler and so Daimler-Benz was created. Their most important machine was Mercedes 35 hp which will lay a foundation to one of the biggest automobile giants, Mercedes-Benz.

Since the release of Benz Patent Motor Car the industry kept evolving from a single cylinder engine that worked primarily on petrol, trough many of the classical era cars where we could see some of the beautiful designs of vehicles ever made, like Bugatti Type 57 SC Atlantic, Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale and Mercedes Benz SL 300 Gullwing, to the most modern era cars where some of them like Bugatti Veyron that has 16 cylinders. That brings us to last 15 years where the focus of diesel aggregates, that were primarily made as a cheaper solution to petrol, but has had a great impact on the environment , the focus has shifted to hybrid and electric era of cars.

Hybrid electric vehicles

prius
Toyota Prius

Some of the best hybrids in the world are made by Japanese tech giant , Toyota. The Hybrid propulsion system combines the classical petrol engine with an electric one and they combined create a very economical and environmental friendly solution, since they have very big range and have almost no impact on the environment.

Hybrid electric vehicles are powered by an internal combustion engine and an electric motor, which uses energy stored in batteries. A hybrid electric vehicle cannot be plugged in to charge the battery. Instead, the battery is charged through regenerative braking and by the internal combustion engine. The extra power provided by the electric motor can potentially allow for a smaller engine. The battery can also power auxiliary loads and reduce engine idling when stopped. Together, these features result in better fuel economy without sacrificing performance.

Electric vehicles

tesla model x
Tesla Model X

Now let’s talk electric. For quite some time now we have had our fair share of electric vehicles, with some of them being famous for their unreliability and horrible appearance, like the infamous G-Whizz that was mocked in the TV show Top Gear, all they way since it’s release, to the end with the famous cast of Clarkson, Hammond and May.

Today, in 2022. we have a pretty good looking and fast electric cars. The most famous one that holds the most of the market is Tesla. Tesla is a company created by American multi billionaire , Elon Musk. The company that focuses on speed and rather no so wide range of customers, when we are talking about electric cars, and that is Rimac. Rimac is a company created by young tech mastermind, Mate Rimac.

Electric cars function by plugging into a charge point and taking electricity from the grid. They store the electricity in rechargeable batteries that power an electric motor, which turns the wheels. Electric cars accelerate faster than vehicles with traditional fuel engines – so they feel lighter to drive.

There are a couple types of electric cars:

Plug-in electric

This means the car runs purely on electricity and gets all its power when it’s plugged in to charge. This type doesn’t need petrol or diesel to run so doesn’t produce any emissions like traditional cars.

Plug-in hybrid

These cars mainly run on electricity but also have a traditional fuel engine so you can use petrol or diesel too if they run out of charge. When running on fuel, these cars will produce emissions but when they’re running on electricity, they won’t. Plug-in hybrids can be plugged into an electricity source to recharge their battery.

Hybrid-electric

 These run mainly on fuel like petrol or diesel but also have an electric battery too, which is recharged through regenerative braking. These let you switch between using your fuel engine and using ‘EV’ mode at the touch of a button. These cars cannot be plugged into an electricity source and rely on petrol or diesel for energy.

What is the future of automobilism?

flying car

The future that awaits us is an uncertain one but we do have some guidelines that we can focus on. You see this can go in two ways. And I will explain them later.

The fossil fuels are disappearing slowly but surely, and with the impact made on our Ozone layer the countries made sure that they are no longer in plan as a constant solution for our modes of transport. Many of European countries have already made laws and regulations that will ban vehicles that are running on fossil fuel as early as 2027. That is of course explicitly for commercial vehicles since trucks and excavators and any type of machine that has its use in the form of heavy lifting will have to stay with diesel engines because of the benefit that diesel brings, and that is immense amounts of torque with some lower output of power. This is in total difference with the petrol engines that prioritize of power rather than torque. This is why you will never see a petrol powered bus for an example.

The future of automobilism can go in two ways.

The first way is to continue going electric but create an autonomous mode of transport. This is possible but we need some in depth changes with the electric cars we know today since Lithium Ion batteries have proven themselves quite unsustainable, highly flammable and dangerous.

The biggest problem for the pollution that cars produce is a man. Yup, a man is a problem. How? We create a huge traffic jams where cars stay stationary for a long period of times, create a huge crowd of cars that move slowly and release toxic fumes in the atmosphere since they are tightly packed in  the small area.

You see, traffic jams are created so easily and a man is all to blame. It’s enough for one person to go 1 km/h faster then the others to create a traffic jam. You go slightly faster, it means that you will be harder on your brakes, so will the person behind you, because you breaked hard and the row will continue endlessly.

The main solution to this problem is a complete removal of the driver himself from the car. Scientists have discovered that autonomous driving would be a best solution in a way that every nearby vehicle would have a built in communication system and that system would regulate the traffic itself , since the cars would basically speak among themselves and would squeeze around with the millimeter gaps within each other, and never have a collision. The cars would also not be required to travel at higher speeds , but even so they would arrive at their destination faster, since there would be no traffic jams.

The other solution is a hydrogen powered cars. Like all-electric vehicles, fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) use electricity to power an electric motor. In contrast to other electric vehicles, FCEVs produce electricity using a fuel cell powered by hydrogen, rather than drawing electricity from only a battery.

During the vehicle design process, the vehicle manufacturer defines the power of the vehicle by the size of the electric motor(s) that receives electric power from the appropriately sized fuel cell and battery combination. Although automakers could design an FCEV with plug-in capabilities to charge the battery, most FCEVs today use the battery for recapturing braking energy, providing extra power during short acceleration events, and to smooth out the power delivered from the fuel cell with the option to idle or turn off the fuel cell during low power needs.

The amount of energy stored onboard is determined by the size of the hydrogen fuel tank. This is different from an all-electric vehicle, where the amount of power and energy available are both closely related to the battery’s size.

This technology is been around for quite some time and it has been proven possible. Also this is the most efficient and ecological solution since the only byproduct of burning hydrogen is oxygen. The problem arises that this technology is quite well know but hidden secret since it doesn’t work well with the fuel industry giants and and the Enviromental mafia. So unfortunately it is still uncertain that we will have this technology available any time soom, or even ever.

Conclusion

The days that lay ahead are cloaked in the shroud of mystery, since we don’t even know if we as a race will be around for a while now to even discuss these subjects. But one thing is for sure, the car as an invention has shaped our race since its release and construction and has depicted and changed our lifestyle in the way that were unimaginable just days before Carl Benz finished his Patent Motor Car.

We have a big job ahead of us, fossil fuels are running low and we are yet do discover a sustainable and ecological solution for our modes of transport.

Who knows what the future had in plan for us?

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