What kind of wonder fuel would it take to conveniently and inexpensively power a quiet, environmentally benign automobile engine? How about . . . gasoline?
Perhaps the biggest reason for the continued survival of gasoline-powered engines, despite all the pollution they cause, is simple human inertia. Why, after all, would anyone buy an electric car or use an alternative fuel when 100,000 gas stations line American roads? But this may soon change. A team of engineers has developed a system to power an electric vehicle cleanly and silently and as conveniently as with gasoline. That’s because the engineers have found a way to generate electricity from the chemical breakdown of gasoline.
To a certain extent, the internal combustion engine also putters along via a chemical reaction—air and fuel ignite when exposed to a spark. The heated gases expand against pistons mechanically linked to the vehicle’s wheels. But after losses to ...
