I'd like to hear your take on an idea I read about: burn boron. It only burns in pure oxygen which means (1) you need an oxygen purifies on board, so it'll take some engineering to make smaller ones than we have now, but (2) the static problem you mention for powders isn't such a problem.
Energy density is higher than gasoline, but you have to carry around the oxidized boron. Then you turn it in for recharging and get a new batch. If there's only one boron car and one recharging plant, on opposite sides of the country, it's still only 50 cents per gallon equivalent even including the shipping costs. And you can store as much in your back yard as you want, pile extra in the back seat, whatever. Chicken-egg problem solved.
Source: Prescription for the Planet by Tom Blees. (He also advocates advanced nuclear reactors to supply the energy for all this.)
Basically, you have an engine that produces glass, rather than gas. At temperatures that eats most metals, plus a pure oxygen environment: basically it would have to be made from ceramics. Really voodoo ceramics.
The challenge is in the power plant; the rest of it is awesome and relatively straightforward. If someone wants a real epic project, designing a working boron-gas turbine is a plum.
Energy density is higher than gasoline, but you have to carry around the oxidized boron. Then you turn it in for recharging and get a new batch. If there's only one boron car and one recharging plant, on opposite sides of the country, it's still only 50 cents per gallon equivalent even including the shipping costs. And you can store as much in your back yard as you want, pile extra in the back seat, whatever. Chicken-egg problem solved.
Source: Prescription for the Planet by Tom Blees. (He also advocates advanced nuclear reactors to supply the energy for all this.)