Thorium Car Never Needs Refueling

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Thorium is a naturally occurring radioactive chemical element which was discovered in 1828 by Norwegian mineralogist Morten Thrane Esmark and identified by the Swedish chemist Jöns Jakob Berzelius, who named it after Thor, the Norse god of thunder.  Thorium produces a radioactive gas, radon-220, which could effectively fuel your car forever.  Your vehicle would burn out long before the chemical did. In fact, the thorium would last so long, it would probably outlive you.

Thorium is one of the most dense materials on the planet. A small sample of it packs 20 million times more energy than a similarly-sized sample of coal, making it an ideal energy source. That’s why a company called Laser Power Systems has created a concept for a thorium-powered car engine. The element is radioactive, and the team uses bits of it to build a laserbeam that heats water, produces steam, and powers an energy-producing turbine.

Now before you get too excited, don’t expect to see thorium engines in cars anytime soon.

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“Cars are not our primary interest,” Dr. Charles Stevens of Laser Power Systems said. ”The automakers don’t want to buy them.” According to Dr. Stevens, the automobile industry is primarily focused on making money off of gas engines, and it will take at least a couple decades for thorium technology to be used enough in other industries that vehicle manufacturers will begin to consider revamping the way they think about engines.

“We’re building this to power the rest of the world,” Stevens said. He believes a thorium turbine about the size of an air conditioning unit could more provide cheap power for whole restaurants, hotels, office buildings, even small towns in areas of the world without electricity. At some point, thorium could even power individual homes.

But just think of how sweet a Thorium car would be…