How Are Cars Powered?

Most people drive a car every day without knowing what's happening under the hood. That's not a problem until you're trying to decide between a gas car, an EV, and a hybrid, or until someone asks you why electric cars feel so fast off the line and you have no answer. This course closes that gap. You'll start with gasoline: what it actually is, why it holds so much energy, and how a four-stroke engine turns small explosions into a car moving down the road. Then you'll move to electric vehicles, where you'll learn what a battery pack is made of, how an electric motor works, and why EVs feel different to drive. The course ends with hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, a technology most people have never heard of, and a side-by-side comparison of all three powertrains so you can see how they stack up on fuel, range, and emissions. By the end, you'll be able to explain how each type of car works, compare them on the things that actually matter, and make sense of the conversations happening around the future of transportation. No engineering background needed. Just curiosity about how things work.