Opinion | The end of the internal combustion engine era is in sight – Hamilton Spectator

The transportation sector, powered by the internal combustion engine (ICE) accounts for 27 per cent of global CO2 emissions.

ICE is a generic term used to describe several types of engines, all variations on a theme reciprocating, rotary, turbine, two stroke and four stroke, burning gasoline, diesel, biofuels or kerosene. Amazingly, with all of our ingenuity, the ICE was the best we could come up with, a noisy, inefficient and polluting engine, a major contributor to climate change and air pollution, and a serious detriment to our health, and that of the planet. Powering not only transportation, ICEs have motorized all manner of industrial, commercial and recreational equipment, from chainsaws to personal watercraft, and generate not only greenhouse gases but soot and nitrogen and sulphur oxides, responsible for serious air pollution and smog. The addition of tetraethyl lead to gasoline further contributed to human health issues and increases in lead pollution.

Frustratingly, NAFTA, Chapter 11, in protecting profits over people and the environment, allowed Ethyl Corporation to sue the Canadian government when it banned MMT, another gasoline additive and neurotoxin, once again demonstrating the power of the corporation over government, the environment and human health. Although catalytic converters, computerized engine management, and the elimination of lead from fuels have reduced some emissions, ICEs remain a major contributor of greenhouse gases.

There are many reasons for the longevity of the ICE, not the least of which is its support by the petroleum and vehicle manufacturing industries. It is confounding that consumers continue to buy ever larger and thirstier vehicles. Manufacturers, supported by oil companies, are more than happy to sell these gas guzzlers because they are so profitable, while the vehicle manufacturing lobby has successfully pushed back against more stringent fuel consumption standards. Those who take public transportation, drive a fuel efficient or electric vehicle are subsidizing these highway leviathans. Manufacturers and auto journalists talk about horsepower, torque and other metrics of power and speed, but it isnt bigger, more powerful and polluting vehicles that we need, as should be obvious from the carnage on our streets and our rapidly changing climate.

The cleanest engine is an electric one. Although ICE infrastructure is well entrenched, as electric vehicles make inroads it appears that the era of the ICE may be coming to a close.

Hybrid, plug-in hybrid and fully electric vehicles will replace ICEs as electrical grids are upgraded and we move away from fossil fuels to wholly renewable sources, assuming the necessary electrical and battery charging infrastructures are in place. Battery development is evolving, and range anxiety and charging times should be resolved. Infrastructure, safety and energy density issues appear to rule out hydrogen as a viable source of fuel in an ICE or a fuel cell. How the electricity is produced and distributed is a major issue. Although nuclear, hydro, wind, solar or other non-fossil-fuel sources produce clean greenhouse gas free electricity, they come with their own significant environmental and carbon footprints.

The life cycle of any vehicle, however powered, must be factored in to its carbon footprint. It is an oxymoron to describe an electric vehicle as zero emissions since it doesnt take into account the energy consumed and emissions released from extraction of raw materials, the manufacturing process, and disposition of the vehicle when it reaches the end of its life. Nor does it consider if the process is linear or circular, with recovery of materials to be reused/upcycled. Battery recycling is critical as raw materials such as lithium and other rare earth metals are sourced from a relatively few countries and are subject to geopolitical forces.

In the end, with a net greenhouse gas benefit of going electric, the future of transportation is electrifying.

Wayne Poole lives in Dundas.

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Opinion | The end of the internal combustion engine era is in sight - Hamilton Spectator