It's amazing that we've been using fire, metal, gasoline and oil to power cars for over 100 years. And this is at a time when today each of us has mobile phones that are in no way inferior to computers in terms of power. Our smartphones can recognize faces, fingerprints, and even measure heart rate. We have technologies and high-tech facilities that can smash protons into each other, allowing us to study their fragments. It allows us to unlock the secrets of the universe. We can also land a probe on a comet and send a satellite out of the solar system. And so we can continue indefinitely ... So why, in the age of the technological revolution, the world still uses obsolete internal combustion engines?
Despite all our achievements, the internal combustion engine actually remains the main source of movement for all vehicles in the world. And this is taking into account the fact that this power unit was invented more than a hundred years ago.
It is noteworthy that against the background of other, more modern inventions, the internal combustion engine (ICE) looks very primitive. Like a hundred years ago, the internal combustion engine works by fuel injection, its compression, ignition and shock wave, which is formed due to the combustion of fuel.
Let's analyze a little how everything works in a car with a conventional engine.
So. You insert into the ignition and turn it to start the starter. As a result, the starter begins to move the pistons of the engine up and down. Next, the fuel pump starts to supply fuel to the combustion chamber of the engine.
Together with it, the water pump, oil pump, engine valves begin to work, which begin their harmonious dance to supply fuel to the engine combustion chamber every second. As a result, the engine begins its work, where all its components begin to rotate and are lubricated with a large amount of oil.
Agree that this process is a very wasteful operation. After all, a lot of auxiliary equipment is involved in the operation of the engine, which practically wastes 75 percent of the engine's energy for nothing. In addition, a huge number of auxiliary components of the internal combustion engine quickly fail due to the constant high load.
But, despite this, it cannot be said that the internal combustion engine is initially based on a stupid idea. Of course not. ICE has served us faithfully for over 100 years and has actually changed our world beyond recognition. But this does not mean that this amazing motor should serve us for the next 100 years. For the time when the internal combustion engine appeared, it was a breakthrough, which corresponded to the technologies that dominated that era.
But today everything has changed and now internal combustion engines do not fit into the world that surrounds us.
You look at modern cars. They actually began to look like vehicles that we have seen more than once in science fiction films and futuristic stories. The new cars have amazing designs thanks to new design technologies and advances in aerodynamics.
Modern cars can communicate with satellites, automatically take control of the car, warn us of dangers on the road, brake urgently to avoid danger, access the World Wide Web and much more.
But, despite the high technology, under the hood of modern cars, most often, internal combustion engines are installed, which are relics of the past. It looks exactly the same these days if the iPhone 7 had a rotary dial.
These days, in the 21st century, it really looks outdated. Especially its technology for generating energy, which is formed by burning material (fuel), from which waste is generated in the form of gas. And we return this harmful gas back to nature, causing irreparable harm to the entire planet.
I want to point out that I am not a crazy environmentalist who spends hours on end talking about protecting the land, the atmosphere and saving penguins in Antarctica. There are plenty of such "green fans" in our world. And I want to note that there were a lot of various ardent defenders of nature (on the verge of fanaticism) long before the appearance of steam engines, not to mention the appearance of internal combustion engines. And I want to assure you that there will be a large number of such funds and organizations even if the ecology of our planet is no longer threatened.
But despite my neutrality in relation to the ecology of nature, I want to say unequivocally that the internal combustion engine has really become obsolete and it has no place in our 21st century and in our future.
Moreover, today there are already technologies that are based on simpler and more efficient ways of obtaining energy for traffic.
But, in order for the internal combustion engine to become a thing of the past forever, it is necessary that you and I understand that the time has come to change our world, starting with ourselves. The fact is that for any technology to become mainstream for use around the world, we need to get used to it, restructuring our foundations and habits. This is exactly the same as we first had a hard time getting used to mobile phones and for a long time could not give up home landline phones. Then came smartphones, which for a long time remained unnoticed by us, but eventually firmly entered our lives. The same can be said about new technologies in the automotive industry. After all, until there is a demand from our side for new energy sources, new technologies will not be able to retire internal combustion engines.
Unfortunately, today we should not count on the imminent disappearance of internal combustion engines from modern cars. Until the moment when we can only see internal combustion engines in museums or in technical literature in a library or on the Internet, quite a lot of time may pass. The fact is that despite the outdated technology for generating energy, internal combustion engines still have little potential for development and increase in power and efficiency. This is what automakers use. But I believe that at the moment we are witnessing a turning point in the history of internal combustion engines and soon people will begin to understand that it is time to stop using cars equipped with traditional engines that work. And as soon as this happens, car companies will be forced to reorganize in a short time and start mass-producing cars without internal combustion engines.
Believe me, very soon internal combustion engines, as a source of energy for the movement of vehicles, will become like horses at the beginning of the 20th century.
At the first stage of the decline of engines, the most inefficient power units will leave. Only the most innovative and environmentally friendly internal combustion engines will remain on the market for a certain time. Then they will disappear too.
So our future is connected with cars that will be equipped with engines running on alternative energy sources.
Most likely, very soon we will own cars with electric engines, some of which will be charged with electricity, and some with hydrogen fuel.
