8 FEB 2026
It was a great honor to participate in Acma Automechanika and connect with auto component manufacturers across the entire value chain in the automobile industry.
From engines to specialised components like pistons,gaskets,axles,steering,suspension ,chassis, paints and more. Participating in the event gave me a chance to gauge the depth of the automotive industry and understand how many small business owners and skilled workers are needed to manufacture a vehicle. Its market value can't fully capture the century of research,the countless hours, the blood sweat and tears that have gone into making a modern automobile.
Although there were infinite opportunities to learn for a curious mind a few things really jumped out and made me think. One of those was how automobiles have very effectively managed to combine multiple ways of controlling the movement of a running vehicle. Of course there is the engine but there's also hydraulics for power steering and brakes. For cooling systems too there are integrated compressors.
For a normal consumer these are nothing more than quality of life improvements but from a technical point of view these are very significant achievements. Because it demonstrates that a single power source, that is the engine, can be used not just for propulsion but also to power steering and cooling systems through means of power transfer mechanisms. Both of these mechanisms were developed in the USA. Hydraulic power steering by Francis W. Davis in the 1920s while working with General motors and air conditioning whose foundations were laid by the great Willis Haviland Carrier & later adapted to automobiles by John Hamman Jr.
The USA has had a long history of innovation in the automobile sector and it continues to lead the world with one of the fastest rollouts of the EV infrastructure after pioneering both the manufacturing of EV motors and the self-driving technology. It's safe to say that the US has built enough advantage for itself to last several decades at the very least.
On the materials front steel is irreplaceable in the automobile industry. So many components — from tiny nuts and bolts to gears, crankshafts and pistons are all made out of steel. Steel dominates completely. Which makes it all the more important to find alternative ways of manufacturing steel. In addition to this it might be necessary to find alternative ways of doing the mechanical work of propulsion and steering without having to rely necessarily on metals.
Several years ago at the tokyo motor show the ministry of environment in Japan debuted 1 a nanocellulose concept vehicle in which as many components of the car as possible were replaced by nanocellulose, a plant derived high strength nanomaterial. Many of those in the automotive industry might remember that Ford made a similar attempt with hemp derived material for car chassis but that didn't succeed. However the fundamental idea is sound. Still more can be done.
Hydraulics are already used in vehicles quite effectively. Hydrostatic transmission systems can be effective replacements for geared transmission reducing dependence on metals as they are already used in tractors and wind turbines 2. It might be possible to adapt them in other systems as well. Big advantages in material and manufacturing at the cost of moderate loss in efficiency is a reasonable trade off, one that should be looked at.
EVs are all the rage. Proponents of EVs not only boast higher efficiencies but also moral superiority over internal combustion engines due to lack of pollution. It's difficult to argue with them on merits.EV does have many limitations but it's unlikely that in the short term those disadvantages will be considered due to the momentum they have going for them.
Yes ICEs are used in other applications besides automotive but it's the automotive industry that represents the biggest customer. For ICE manufacturers electric vehicles present a potential threat. One that can no longer be ignored. Some engine manufacturers like Horse powertrain are building their engines to be compatible with e fuels. But I fear this might not be enough as e fuels themselves are inefficient (due to inherent carnot efficiency limits they will never match the efficiency of electric vehicles)
I don't have an answer to this problem but it might not be such a bad idea to pool resources and develop new kind of automotive engines. The versatility of Stirling engine that can be used in more than one application might just be what the industry needs to survive. It is also conceivable to build power conversion devices that are able to capture energy not just from direct combustion but also the compression that happens during the heat rejection phase of the engine, enhancing the engine efficiency to many times that of ICE and ensuring that mechanical automobiles can survive the onslaught unleashed by EV. For vehicles in particular SE is highly relevant not just from the point of view of propulsion but also for cooling. When operated in reverse SE is a very effective cooler and it in fact dominates the cryocooling industry.
No matter how good EVs get they will always suffer from one inherent disadvantage. Their dependency on functional materials and their limits on power handling. Mechanical components are more forgiving in both regards. Even at lower efficiency they can enable distributed industrialisation enabling solutions that can be applied across many sectors.
REFERENCES
1 NCV(Nano Cellulose Vehicle) Concept Car
https://www.tokyo-motorshow.com/en/gallery/2019/04_030_MOE/002.html
2 Application and analysis of hydraulic wind power generation technology
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211467X23000676
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