Moving heavy vehicles like school buses. construction equipment and big trucks to electrification will definitely be slower," says Kate Whitefoot, an associate professor of mechanical engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University who studies transportation. "That's where improving the efficiency of internal combustion engines will be important."
The plasma igniter prototypes developed by Biswas and his colleagues, including researchers at Sandia National Laboratories and the Navy, have been working well in extensive testing, Biswas says. He notes that not only are the igniters ridding test engines of the worst greenhouse gasses, but they're proving more durable than spark plugs, which are prone to fouling and must be replaced periodically. What's more, the plasma igniters enable engines to run efficiently with smaller amounts of gas than traditional spark-plug-ignited engines.
Biswas says he and his colleagues are well-along in discussions with manufacturers to bring the devices to market. "I'm hoping we'll have them in vehicles in five years, but it won't be more than 10 years," says Biswas. The main reason it will take that long, he explains, is mostly due to the challenges of developing new manufacturing processes that can compete with the mass-production efficiency of spark plugs, which has been honed over more than a century. Car manufacturers will have to slightly alter their designs and plants, too.
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