The worldwide development of mobility - on air, earth or water - is generally characterized by a trade-off between high power and high torque against low specific energy consumption and low pollutant emission.
The achieved diversity of propulsion systems and energy sources for mobility allows to develop advantageous combination scenarios between the utilized energy forms, energy conversion modules, energy storage units on board and propulsion machines.
The paper presents the available energy sources and the derivable regenerative fuels, the global CO2 balance for representative propulsion configurations and the specific aspects of the energy storage on board. The most advanced concepts of propulsion - from fuel cells to the hybrid systems are presented in an overview, in relationship with their specific advantages and disadvantages.
These concepts are exemplified by 3 vehicles with advanced propulsion concept, developed and tested by the West Saxon University of Zwickau:
automobile with electric motor and battery, charged by an own local sun power station
boat with electric motor, powered by photovoltaic collectors on board, disposed on the boat roof
compact car, especially for urban traffic, with hybrid propulsion management, consisting on electric motor for propulsion and current generator on board, actioned by an internal combustion engine with steady function, which is also adapted for regenerative fuels (methanol/ethanol)
Future development ways of the propulsion systems in base on sustainable energy are presented as well.