theknowledgebase

When gas prices soared in 2008 to four dollars a gallon everyone was worried about how we would reduce the prices, and while we were at it; remove our dependency on foreign oil. Everyone debated on which method would cost the least, what would give the most performance, where we would get it from. People wondered how we could choose the next energy source when a clear winner was not among the choices. The solution is simpler than most seem to realize; we use all fuel sources. If we can use any fuel, we remove our dependency on one source.

The reason we are dependent on foreign oil is because our engines are not very good at working with a multitude of sources with quality returns. There is a way to convert all forms of fuel into a single power source. Electricity is a universal power source that any fuel can be turned into. With electric engines we can move the dependency on the fuel out of the car and into manufacturing plants. Then no matter what fuel we find most efficient, or one we discover in the future, we convert it into electricity and it works for our autos, or homes, or phones, etc.

You can not turn solar power into gasoline, nor can you use nuclear power, or wind turbines to power your auto. However, you can take any of these, and turn their energy into electricity. Since movement can be turned into electricity, that means we could create any engine that runs on a specific fuel, and use the movement that the engine generates to create electricity. Then we can use whatever energy source that is most efficient for a particular region, Solar Power in hot areas, wind turbines in the plains, tidal power near the coast or corn oil in farmlands; and use it as power. Then we will have truly removed our dependency on one fuel.

Electric vehicles are the future, period. It’s going to happen. And I can’t wait. I love the sound and feel of electric engines. They have great acceleration and a smooth, quiet ride. However, they lack efficiency. A feature that is a by product of our lack of investment in the technology to date. Electricity will become more efficient and cost effective as they have the potential to do so. They currently compete in performance with today’s engines, and they have not had the development resources gas engines have had. The most important part of transitioning to an electric engine is we will have put into place a system that allows us modulate the power source without it affecting the end solution.