There is, however, an alternative: burn the hydrogen in a conventional internal-combustion engine.
This slowing effect is used by Lotus to simulate engine braking, in which resistance inside an internal-combustion engine decelerates the car.
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Over time, the shipyards became centers of expertise in the internal-combustion engine.
If we are talking about an automobile powered by anything other than, or in addition to, an internal-combustion engine, we are talking about electric motors.
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The internal-combustion engine will still be king of the road in the early 2020s, when only a fifth of cars sold in Europe will be hybrid or electric.
Al Gore and his acolytes equate the internal-combustion engine with climate change, overconsumption and environmental devastation, and the mayors of trendy towns like Seattle and Portland have declared war on the automobile as the enemy of civilized values.
When the battery is depleted (or when driven at very high speeds), the premium-gas internal combustion engine powers the car, but its fuel mileage suffers from having to shove around 400lbs of batteries.
Then we did it again in the 20th century with the convergence of communication and energy: Centralized electricity especially the telephone and then later radio and television became the communication vehicles to manage a more dispersed Second Industrial Revolution, organized around the oil-powered internal combustion engine, suburban construction and the creation of a mass consumer society.
The technology isn't new-a patent for a hydrogen internal combustion engine was issued in 1928, and a 20hp fuel-cell tractor was demonstrated in the late 1950s.
It is a hybrid, powered by both a small internal combustion engine and a battery-driven electric motor.
"Lots and lots of things are happening that indicate a worldwide interest, and most of the knowledgeable people are convinced that the next-generation replacement for the internal combustion engine is going to be a fuel cell, " Roan said.
It's powered by a hydrogen internal combustion engine that turns a 44-kilowatt electric generator that runs eight propellers and whatever communications equipment is loaded on board.
So some people might be surprised at my latest venture: retrofitting the plug-in hybrid Fisker Karma with a powerful internal combustion engine.
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The golden age of American productivity growth followed what is called the second industrial revolution, in 1860-1900, which yielded a cluster of genuinely paradigm-shifting inventions: electric power, the internal combustion engine, modern industrial chemistry and telecommunications.
Burns says a fuel-cell vehicle has one-tenth the number of parts of a traditional internal combustion engine.
The company also is developing four-wheel-drive technology that powers two wheels with an internal combustion engine and two with an electric motor, eliminating the need for a drive train that takes up floor space, Ho said.
Billionaire Peter Thiel, for example, argues that despite spectacular advances in computer-related fields, technological progress has actually stalled because the internal combustion engine still rules our highways, the cancer death rate has barely changed since 1971, and the top speed at which people can travel has ceased to improve.
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Similarly, English outfit No Internal Combustion Engine (NICE, very cute) is previewing an all-electric sports car that it plans to show off at the London Auto Show in July.
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