The Car of the Future

The pollution caused by the global growth in road traffic is creating increasing environmental damage. Today, 14% of all greenhouse gas emissions already stem from the exhausts of automobiles and trucks. Yet people’s desire for individual mobility will remain unchecked in the future. How are carmakers responding to this challenge? This question is answered by Professor Dr. Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, Director of the Center of Automotive Research at the University of Applied Sciences in Gelsenkirchen.

The predominant propulsion system in 2020 will continue to be the internal combustion engine, supported by hybrid systems. Diesel and petrol engines still have a great future ahead of them. However, this dividing line will no longer exist. Engine developers working at suppliers and manufacturers are already designing engines that will run on both types of fuel and combine the clean burn of a petrol engine with the economy of a diesel engine.

Nonetheless, environmentally concerned drivers regard the hybrid engine as a kind of wonder weapon. What makes the combined electric motor and internal combustion engine such an interesting proposition?

Above all, its energy-saving potential in urban traffic. That is where the hybrid can use a lot of braking energy to charge the battery. The electricity generated in that way powers the electric motor and thus substantially reduces fuel consumption. Furthermore, hybrids significantly cut all the various types of emissions in urban traffic. When you look at long-distance journeys and motorway traffic, however, diesel engines remain unbeatable. The problems with hybrid technology are high costs and extra weight. In addition to the electric motor itself, a hybrid car needs a set of batteries, which also cost money. These are the reasons that currently prevent hybrids making a major breakthrough, as the sale figures clearly demonstrate: last year, approximately 57 million cars were sold worldwide, but only 380,000 of them had hybrid engines.