The origins of automobile power systems can be traced back to the steam engine. In the late 19th century, the steam engine served as the primary power source for early vehicles, but it was inefficient and cumbersome. When Nicolas Joseph Cugnot built the world's first steam-powered automobile in 1769, this behemoth, weighing 5 tons, required four people to operate and had to stop every 15 minutes to reheat the boiler. In 1886, Karl Benz's single-cylinder, four-stroke gasoline engine ignited the flames of the internal combustion engine era.
The outlook for automotive powertrain technology over the next 50 years includes: pure electric vehicles and solid-state battery technology, with solid-state batteries expected to become mainstream due to their high safety and long lifespan, and gradually replacing traditional lithium batteries after 2030; hydrogen fuel cells and the hydrogen energy ecosystem, with advantages such as zero emissions, fast refueling (3-5 minutes), and long range (over 800 kilometers); the transition from hybrid power to synthetic fuels, with plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and range-extended electric vehicles (REEVs) continuing to exist until electrification is fully mature; and the continuous optimization and fuel diversification of internal combustion engines, with the thermal efficiency of internal combustion engines expected to exceed 50% through technologies such as cylinder deactivation, homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI), and in-cylinder water injection.