Evaluating Emerging Powertrain Technologies for Sustainable Automotive Transportation

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">As we move towards sustainable transportation, it is essential to look for alternative powertrain technologies that might reduce emissions and depend less on fossil fuels. This paper offers a thorough analysis and comparison of several viable solutions along with their benefits, cost and conclusion for hydrogen fuel cells, solar cells, electric hybrid systems, compressed natural gas (CNG) and CNG hybrid systems alongside the latest proposal of using nuclear batteries.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">Hydrogen cars have zero emissions from their exhaust and can be refueled quickly, however there are some drawbacks like hydrogen production, storage, and infrastructure. The efficiency, affordability, and scalability of various hydrogen production techniques, fuel cell stack designs and storage technologies (compressed gas, liquid, and metal hydrides) are evaluated in this paper.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">Solar FCEVs on the other hand, are designed to utilize solar energy like Solar EVs but are very different in their operation and fundamentals. This paper provides a detailed comparison between the two.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">Hybrid EVs combine an internal combustion engine with an electric motor and battery, giving advantages of both the systems. We detail various hybrid architectures (series, parallel and power-split) and energy management strategies, to assess their performance, fuel savings and emission reduction capabilities.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">CNG vehicles and CNG hybrid vehicles are a cleaner alternative, and they serve as a transition solution from a non-renewable fossil fuel to a renewable energy source. We investigate CNG storage systems, engine modification and the possibility of using renewable natural gas (RNG) to lower the potential carbon footprint.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">The paper also presents revolutionary idea of nuclear batteries which use the high energy density of radioactive materials to power automobiles. We review current and potential nuclear battery designs, including betavoltaic cells and miniaturized fission reactors, with a focus on their theoretical energy density, safety characteristics, and regulatory hurdles.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">This research offers issues for consideration by automotive manufacturers, policymakers, and researchers in making rational decisions and prioritizing the research towards sustainable mobility with a trade-off between the environmental footprint, energy efficiency, and practical feasibility.</div></div>