British Science Week 2025 – change and adapt: the cars of the future
18 February 2025
Mike Jackson, Physics Subject Advisor
In this blog for British Science Week 2025, I’ll look at how the theme of ‘Change and adapt’ can be related to the move away from petrol and diesel cars. This blog is aimed at both students and teachers, and includes suggested follow-on activities.
Petrol and diesel engines are the most common way to power a car on our roads but this is changing with a UK ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars planned for 2030. Global climate change and carbon emission targets are one reason for this. Limited amounts of fossil fuels, health concerns from emissions and costs are also driving change. Engineering based on scientific research is helping to overcome issues with alternative technologies, and some of these alternatives are considered below.
Relevance to OCR qualifications
This would be an interesting subject for teachers and students to use as a mini-project for British Science Week, but it can also be linked to topics in various qualifications:
Biofuels
Biofuels can be made from a range of substances. Bioethanol made from sugar cane has been widely used in Brazil for many years. Bioethanol is now added to some fuels in the UK, with 10% of standard unleaded (labelled E10 on pumps) in the UK being biofuel. Other biofuels include biodiesel (from plant or animal oils) and biogas (from organic waste).
While biofuels may be considered carbon neutral to an extent, there are still many drawbacks:
- Not all cars can use these fuels, particularly classic cars.
- Intensive agriculture for crop-based biofuels has ecological impacts.
- Using farmland for bioethanol may impact on supplies of food and its cost.
- Processes for producing biofuels may not be carbon neutral, meaning the fuels still have a carbon footprint.
Synthetic fuels
Formula 1 will use 100% “advanced sustainable fuel” for its race cars from 2026. Formula 2 and Formula 3 already use 55% advanced sustainable fuel. This fuel is not made from crops, or land used for crops. It can be made from agricultural waste, municipal waste, forestry waste, carbon captured by algae or captured directly from the air. There will be challenges to developing this technology for wider use. These include:
- Air pollution affecting health, much like petrol and diesel.
- Moving from small scale use to more widely for road car users.
Electric cars
Electric cars have become the most popular alternative to petrol and diesel in recent years. Electric cars are not a recent invention but battery technology has improved the range of vehicles and the time taken to recharge. By the end of 2024 there were more than 73,000 public charging points across the UK but the number and type varies between regions. In Norway electric cars account for most car sales now, demonstrating how sales vary between countries and the influence of Government policies, such as tax, on change. Electric cars have the advantages of a lower carbon footprint (after production) if the electricity is produced in a sustainable way. Electric motors can also provide a better driving experience and can have lower maintenance needs due to less moving parts. The current barriers to further growth in the market include:
- Time to recharge (especially on long journeys).
- Higher initial cost of vehicles (and installing a charging point).
- Environmental impacts from producing and transporting batteries.
- Producing sufficient sustainable and reliable electricity.
- Charging a vehicle if you do not have a driveway.
Hydrogen fuel
Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are in use in smaller numbers in the UK. Hydrogen is used to produce electricity to power an electric motor. This is much more efficient than combustion. This also means that the advantages of electric motors are retained and refuelling can take place more quickly at a fuel station (if it has hydrogen available). There are no harmful emissions from a hydrogen fuel cell. The issues here are:
- Current petrol stations need to be adapted to supply hydrogen gas.
- More hydrogen needs to be produced from green sources to reduce the carbon footprint of its production.
- Higher costs of vehicles compared to other options currently. Prices of new technology do tend to reduce with time though!
Green algae and cyanobacteria can be used in a microbial reactor to produce hydrogen in a more sustainable way. Various experiments have improved the efficiency of this process, though it may require the use of farmland (and the previously discussed issues with this).
Is there one solution?
The future may involve more than one of these solutions. This may well vary between people and countries. This may be further complicated by how governments decide to raise taxes to replace those from petrol and diesel in recent decades. There are also other issues to solve, including the possible health impacts from brake dust as brake pads wear away. Congestion may add to calls to look towards improve public transport to replace some car traffic too.
We know from recent years that change can happen more quickly than anticipated. There were around 800 cars in the UK in 1900 but over a million by 1930. There are now over 41 million!
Today’s scientists and engineers will look to solve (or reduce) these issues and shape the future of transport around the world!
Activities to explore the ideas further
This blog gives a basic overview of some of the potential alternatives to petrol and diesel engines in cars. There are many ways in which these can be explored in more depth. You could:
- Prepare a debate around the question “Should petrol and diesel cars be banned?”. Remember that effective debate considers a range of viewpoints and the evidence.
- Choose one solution from this blog and research the recent developments in more detail. Consider what further changes are needed for this to be used more widely.
- Explain how petrol and diesel (or one of the other technologies here) impact the environment. This can be good practice of full explanations (and the use of connectives such as “because”).
- Write a report, or a letter to your local politician, to promote the best direction for the UK (or another country). This could include a solution to the lost taxes from petrol and diesel.
- Research some of the different careers that are involved in this issue. Understanding engineering roles may be particularly helpful. Many organisations are keen to promote engineering in an inclusive way, such as STEM women and In2Science UK.
- Discuss how change may affect different groups of people. You may wish to consider inequalities and how these might be addressed. For example, electric cars may be easier to charge for those with more expensive houses that have driveways.
- Develop a piece of creative writing which includes descriptions of travel in the future. Perhaps cars are automated and not owned by individuals? Is public transport much more widely used? Do some people still enjoy driving round in classic cars?
Stay connected
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About the authors
Mike joined OCR in January 2024 and is a subject advisor for A Level Physics. Mike completed an MA in Education at the University of Birmingham in 2014. Before joining OCR, he was a teacher for over 15 years, with roles included Acting Assistant Head, Head of Science, Physics Network Lead for a trust, a STEM Learning Facilitator and an SLE for Science. Mike is passionate about inclusion in education, environment and sustainability.
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