It is either electric or fuel cell cars in future: Study

By 2050, most vehicles will need to be electrically propelled, with a battery to store energy or an on-board hydrogen fuel cell to generate electricity, if emission targets set by governments are to be met. That’s the conclusion of an expert team responsible for giving inputs to a report “Towards Sustainable Road Transport” published by Elsevier. The three authors are senior research chemists who have spent their professional careers working in the fields of energy and electrochemistry. More than 300 pages packed with information describe the growth and technical development of road vehicles during the 20th century, and the state-of-the-art power sources and advanced vehicle designs now needed to meet the 80pc reduction required in global emissions over the next 35 years, and needed to protect the next generation.

“Over the past 25 years, the auto industry has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent from a 1990 baseline, which is less than 1 per cent a year,” says Patrick Moseley, president emeritus of the Advanced Lead–Acid Battery Consortium (ALABC), adding that “Over the next 35 years, the industry will have to sustain the 2 to 3 per cent annual reduction that it is now achieving.  That’s a tall order.”

Moseley’s co-authors are Ronald Dell, former head of applied electrochemistry at the UK Atomic Energy Authority and David Rand, a former chief research scientist of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) of Australia. Their first edition book focuses attention on road transport, a key aspect of human activity among the many sectors – including agriculture, industry and power – that require attention if sustainable development on a global scale is to be achieved.