The car of the future … Today!!

A few years ago, people didn’t imagine that there could be a car that works without gasoline. But engineers developed a new kind of car—the hybrids—These cars work with gasoline and electricity simultaneously. They use gasoline for the ignition of the engine and for the acceleration process, but the rest of the time they work with the electricity stored in a series of batteries. This process makes people spend less gasoline and save money.  

The first company that developed a hybrid car was Toyota with its “Prius”.  As Takeshi Uchiyamada, who is one of the designers of this vehicle, explains to Yuri Kageyama of the Associated Press that the designers had to work a lot on this car. They had to work 16 hours per day for a couple of years  looking for the best technology and it wasn’t an easy project. But finally in 1997, they released the Prius to the market, making it the most successful hybrid so far because it was accepted for the market since the first moment. it has also given to Toyota a new opportunity to enter in the US market. According to its price, the Prius was designed for middle-class people, and it has had a great impact in its market. For some people the price of this vehicle is high, and it could be true, but other people consider buying this car as an investment because they will save money in gasoline in the following years. The new generation of Prius starts at $22,000 but if it makes 48 miles per gallon. Almost 20 miles per gallon more than Toyota corolla, which is the more similar car within the Toyota models. 

What is the next step? With the high prices of the fuel, and more and more consequences against the environment made by the oil products, we know that the next generations have to be cars that work without gasoline at all. For example in Los Angeles, California, there is a mechanic who is transforming hybrid cars to 100% electrical cars. Felicity Barringer presents the case of Carolyn Coquillette who transforms the hybrid cars by disconnecting the gasoline engine and putting instead a set of batteries, making the cars completely electrical. These batteries can be recharged many times. The only disadvantage is that the car can go only 15 miles with a charge. After the 15 miles it starts to work with the gasoline engine.  This kind of news makes people wonder why  big companies like Toyota, Honda or GM haven’t developed a similar technology; However, they are actually working on it.  

The recent example of the effort of big companies to eliminate the dependence  from oil products is the Honda FCX Clarity, which, according to Martin Fackler is “the world's first hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicle intended for mass production.” This car represents the next step in the future of the car industry, but why don’t people go to buy one of them today? There are two problems: First the price. Not many people have more than $100,000 to buy it. And second, the infrastructure that these cars need doesn’t exist yet. These cars need special station where they can recharge their tank with hydrogen. Nowadays these kind of station only exists in the South of California. Making more hydrogen stations  is something that not only car companies have to work on, but also governments and other companies. We have to prepare the road for this new generation.

There is a long way between now and  independence from  oil products, but we are head in the right direction.