Alternatives to the internal combustion engine

At some point, we will have to transition from ICE vehicles to some other forms of propulsion. And until natural hydrogen sources can be found and all the problems in handling hydrogen have been ironed out, electric propulsion look like our best option. But we should not rush into it as we are now; there are problems that need to be addressed first.

1. Power generation: First, it doesn’t make sense to rush the transition to electric vehicles until there’s plenty of reasonably priced and dependable power available. One should not put the cart before the horse. And as mentioned earlier, nuclear is our best option for the foreseeable future, and we’re lagging way behind on that front. Then we have to upgrade the grid to handle the load.

2. Battery technology: Current lithium-ion batteries are prone to spontaneous combustion and thermal runaway leading to fires that emit dangerous fumes, burn at a much higher temperature, and can be extremely difficult to contain and extinguish; this can be catastrophic in many cases. Power density and weight is another issue with many current structures that were not designed to handle the extra weight. For those reasons, there are already some locations/structures/buildings where EVs are banned. Incidentally, there have also been numerous instances of fires being caused by smaller electric mobility devices such as scooters, motorcycles, bicycles, etc. So, until battery technology has matured (esp. re thermal runaway), we should ease up on the transition.

3. Car design: The current practice of incorporating a large customized battery into the car’s structure makes no sense. The most serious problem is that slight damage to the battery itself (say in a minor accident) can make repair so expensive that vehicles are often scrapped rather than repaired - a serious waste of resources and environmental problem. Charging is second on the list - it’s simply not practical - unless one only uses the car mostly to commute or for short errands, and the vehicle can be charged at home; even then, if whole neighborhoods go electric, the extra load might require a grid upgrade in many instances - that’s extremely expensive and could take decades. Charging at “communal” charging stations is an option, but you still need to distribute that power to those location. If a number of cars are charging at the same time, and you want a fast charge, you need access to a very beefy power source - for example, to fast charge 10 to 20 cars simultaneously, you would need something like a 5,000 kW service line..! (That’s enough to supply 100 average homes) In many locations, that’s simply not available, or outrageously expensive to access. Most charging stations don’t have that kind of electric service, and when the available power is split say 10 ways, you only get 1/10th of the available power per charger, so you’re down to slow charging. The obvious solution is transitioning to standardized replaceable batteries.

4. Swappable batteries: Swapping batteries would solve the two issues mentioned above. Most major manufacturers would have to get on board and agree on one standardized battery size, and make sure they can be easily replaced with a robotic system. Each vehicle would be engineered to house a certain number of batteries, depending on their power requirements. (The marine industry already has that kind of scalable battery system available; 4 of these for example, could power the average car). And instead of owning the batteries, the user would “lease” them from battery suppliers who would manage the swapping stations and recharge the batteries. A robot could probably replace the batteries on a car in about the same time it takes to fill up a tank of gas. And the motorist could be charged for the amount of power in the fresh battery minus the remaining power in the trade-in. Simple, quick, and practical. Fleet operators could have their vehicles on the road 24/7 with no downtime, mobile units could also be dispatched to replace batteries on the road if need be (a stranded vehicle for example), and fully charged batteries could be shipped to remote locations where charging is not practical. But the thermal runaway issue needs to be resolved first..!

   Such a system is already being implemented in China by CATL . And here are a couple of other examples: this small Spanish car and these Tuk-tuks in India use replaceable batteries that can either be purchased or leased, and can be swapped in less than a minute.

   So, until battery technology and car design has matured, and the grid is up to the task, we should go easy on electric vehicles (including electric bicycles, motorcycles and scooters that incorporate sizeable lithium-ion batteries).