Hydrogen has been defined on numerous occasions as “the fuel of the future”. We have seen other alternatives, such as ammonia or even methanol (which you may remember meeting with us), but what if there was an even more powerful one? Hawking predicted decades ago that the most powerful one could exist, and now they have finally created it. This is the new engine that has everything to revolutionize the planet but would require a huge mobilization of resources to manufacture.
Hawking predicted this fuel, and it could be the most powerful fuel ever seen in history
The idea of using thorium for fueling cars has created the immense interest from auto enthusiasts, as such cars may become a clean, efficient and almost inexhaustible energy source for transport in the future. Nevertheless, the prospects of this technology are not as simple as may be suggested by this example, and at the moment, this technology is still rather hypothetical.
A thorium-powered car engine concept is based on the use of the radioactive material known as thorium as fuel. In principle, this engine employed a tiny measure of thorium to release heat through nuclear fission, and the heat was further transformed into electricity to run the car.
Regarding its features, several studies have already shown its enormous potential:
- Autonomy: Some people argue that using thorium, a car could go for as long as thirty years without recharging.
- Efficiency: It appears that one gram of thorium could generate more energy than 28, 000 liters of petroleum.
- Clean Energy: Thorium reactions are less hazardous in terms of radioactive waste produced in comparison with nuclear fission.
That being said, it is pertinent here to understand the fact that there is no actual working model of a thorium powered car engine to this date. However, we will now see several projects underway that have proposed the use of this fuel in something akin to a thorium-powered engine.
Now, what role does Hawking play in all this? This was one of the chemical elements that interacted, theoretically, with Hawking’s radiation, the only matter that is capable of “escaping” from a black hole, according to the postulates of the physicist during the last years of his life. Logically, only indirect observations of this phenomenon have been possible.
Up to 3 million times more energy with only 1 gram: Why thorium-powered engines could be the future
A gram of thorium, the world’s most abundant metal, contained three million times as many potential energy calories as a gallon of gasoline. Yet these estimations can by no means be held realistic, for a number of technical challenges would call into question the feasibility of such an engine.
While the idea of thorium-powered cars has been popular in recent years, yet, there are no live, legitimate projects in work. The most cited “project” is most often an over-interpretation of a concept car design.
Cadillac World Thorium Fuel Concept
This design was created in 2009, as an abstract concept by Loren Kulesus. It is not meant to be a functional design but more of a look into the not-too-distant future in terms of design.
Laser Power Systems
In an article, Charles Stevens, the CEO of Laser Power Systems, has opined on the possibility of cars that are powered by thorium. Nevertheless, his company has never brought any working prototypes, and the tech is still in the idea stage.
As you can see, the thorium-powered engine is much more than an experimental model (although it has not yet become a prototype). It is true that it is extremely expensive, but NASA has thought about its viability for projects that, of course, do not involve its use in cars, but in rockets that, contrary to what they are trying to do now, would not be reusable. This seems to be the big disadvantage, compared to the advantages you have already seen, and they are not few.
