Concept Cars Essay, Research Paper

CONCEPT CARS

People go to car shows to see the manufacturers’ “futuristic” concept cars and are always fascinated and amazed by the impressive engineering. Little do they realize, those concept cars of tomorrow are actually prototypes of what is to come. The car show’s only intent is to showoff the engineer’s technical ideas, to get the population’s reaction,and to test the functionality of their new creation. How will tomorrow’s mobile units look and perform? The late twenty-first century automobiles will require more aerodynamic body styles, they will rely more on the use of computer technology, and tomorrow’s automobile will have a rather interesting social and economical impact on society.

The future’s population wants faster cars with lighter bodies, cheaper and longer-lasting fuels, and better aerodynamics. For example, when people think of the future’s automobiles they think of uniquely shaped vehicles that can travel at high speeds in a short amount of time. People thrive on the chance to go to car shows to see the improvements waiting to hit the market. Sure, they are fascinated about how the cars look but the top speed of the vehicles is what is most impressive.

Several factors control how fast cars can travel; body weight is one of them. Instead of using the heavy metals used in past automobiles, manufacturers’ will use lighter substances like plastics and other composite materials. Not only do these materials make the cars weigh less, they also improve fuel efficiency. Another important factor that controls speed is the fuel used. As an example, alcohol bums faster than gasoline; thus, alcohol cars can travel faster than gasoline cars.

Today scientists are working on alternative fuels, like methanol and natural gas. Some scientists insist that electricity is the better “fuel” to power motor vehicles. Scientists are working on an on board refinery — fuel cells that extract hydrogen from gasoline and then burn it to produce electricity. Another extremely important factor to speed is aerodynamics. There are three key items to aerodynamics: frontal area, drag coefficient, and the lift coefficient. The smaller a car’s frontal area the faster it can travel. In addition, cleanliness and sleekness help reduce the friction, or rag, of the air moving over and around the car. Finally, when a car travels at high speeds the turbulence from the air actually lifts the back end of the car. To limit the car’s lift, spoilers and wings are used. Spoilers and wings cause a down force that helps keep the wheels from lifting off the ground; this is so because the spoilers and wings cause additional drag.

The automobile will have better audio and video systems, Internet access and navigation will be possible with satellites, and most of the technological systems will respond to voice commands. As an illustration most luxury vans have televisions, VCR’S, and video game systems. Now imagine having all of those items including laptop computers, DVD players, and Internet access in a car. Every day manufacturers are getting closer to making those images a reality. Televisions and computers will be integrated into the backs off cars and on dashboards. DVD players will replace CD players. More speakers will be added to give a more full and complete sound. MP3 playback systems-an audio compression standard that allows users to download music from the Internet-will replace today’s standard radio stations. Mobile phones are nothing new for automobile users, but satellites will replace the use of towers to transmit mobile phone calls. Internet access will also be possible with satellite use in cars. In addition, navigational systems will be integrated into the consoles of cars. The navigation system will use satellite technology to place a digital map of a country, state, or city on a small screen located either on the dashboard or center console in cars. Moreover, another technology will change how the new technology is operated. Instead of pushing buttons to tell computers what to do, a driver will literally be able to give verbal commands. This new technology will help decrease some automobile accidents because the driver will be able to leave his eyes on the road at all times and still have the convenience of changing the radio, adjusting the climate, or view the most up-to-date map of cities and states without shuffling through the glove box.

With the new concept cars of the future, alternative fuel stations will boom, today’s “gas stations” will fail to bring profit, and traveling will be more common and easier. For example, with alternative fuels – methanol, natural gas, and electricity – replacing gasoline, alternative fuel stations will be in need; thus, an alterative fuel station boom will occur.

Because of the boom and the declining need for gasoline, gasoline stations would fail to make profit and most of the gasoline stations would soon close down. Not only is speed a benefit to alternative fuels, fuel efficiency is also improved. With the extended fuel efficiency, people will be able to travel more often. The more people travel the more they learn about history. Therefore, people will become a little wiser. Furthermore, with more traveling occurring, families will spend more time with each other and families will be a little happier. Along with the increase in traveling, more city roads will need to be built to hold the heavy traffic. In addition, more gift shops, theme parks, and big businesses will open; thus, an increase in jobs and tourism will result.

The automobile will go through so through many changes in the near future. Composite bodies and sleek aerodynamics will change the way cars will look and handle. Alternative fuels will change how cars run and how far they can travel. They will also have a devastating effect on some fuel stations but will also open new doors for new fuel businesses to grow. Automobiles will no longer be just for transportation, but

also for entertainment. With the upcoming changes in the automobile today’s dream car will soon be tomorrow’s reality.