The skyrocketing fuel prices, growing environmental concerns, mounting criticisms towards carbon emissions, and demand for alternative fuel vehicles continue to increase that generates an excellent opportunity for automakers to develop cars that do not use traditional bio-carbon-based fuel. It is important to know that alternative fuels have very low carbon emission which ultimately reduces smog, air pollution, and global warming. Following are some alternative fuels that can be utilized (some are already being used) to run our future cars:
A car run by a compressed air is probably the most intriguing and alluring among all other alternative fuel cars. Such car may use only compressed air, or it can be a hybrid car which uses both compressed air and diesel, gasoline or ethanol.
When using the compressed air alone, the car could manage to drive around town at a speed of 35 mph.
What you can see in the picture is the Tata/MDI OneCAT which was then advertised to come out in 2008. Reportedly, the compressed car was the product of India’s Tata Motors and Motor Development International’s engine developer Guy Negre.
Natural gas fuel is widely available in many countries through utilities that supply natural gas to homes and offices. Natural gas, as an alternative fuel, burns clean and produces fewer harmful emissions than gasoline or diesel, and can be systemized in cars and trucks. The drawback of natural gas as an alternative fuel is that it produces methane, a greenhouse gas that is 21x worse than CO2, which ultimately makes it a big reason for global warming.
Vehicles fueled by vegetable oil are no more a concept. There are now hybrid cars that run by vegetable oil and even trucks and buses that are powered by biodiesel (including soybean oil).
The world’s first biodiesel car rental is located in Maui, Hawaii. The USA features a fleet of eco-friendly vehicles. They include the Volkswagen “Bio-Beetle” that runs entirely on vegetable oil!
Hydrogen Fuel Cells
Cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells have attracted nature-loving motorists for several years. Undoubtedly, car makers face a lot of tough technical challenges in developing such cars (such as preventing Hydrogen cells from freezing or from catching flames inside the vehicle), but it doesn’t deter the creation of such eco-friendly cars.
In 2015, Toyota unveiled the first commercially-produced hydrogen fuel cell-powered car, the Toyota Mirai. These cars usually utilize the hydrogen in one of two methods; fuel cell conversion or combustion method. Hydrogen is converted into electricity through fuel cells in the fuel conversion process. While in combustion method, hydrogen is burned in the engine radically the same way as traditional gasoline. The only byproduct from the consumed hydrogen is water in both above techniques.
Ethanol is present in most of the gases that we use for our vehicles, though it must be present in a legally approved amount. But in 2010, Suzuki started making and selling cars that were fueled by 100% ethanol.
This alcohol-based alternative fuel is made by fermenting and refining crops such as barley, corn or wheat. To increase octane levels and improve the emission quality, it is blended well with gasoline. One problem associated with ethanol is that it has a negative impact on food prices and its availability.
Some cars and truck models carry the specification “flex fuel”, which means they can run on mixtures that contain up to 85% ethanol.
Propane, also known as ‘liquefied petroleum gas’ or ‘LPG’, is a byproduct of natural gas and crude oil that is a popular alternative fuel for vehicles. Propane is already used as a fuel for cooking and heating. There is a properly established infrastructure for propane storage, transportation, and distribution. The only adverse effect to this fuel is that it produces greenhouse gas, methane, a worse global warming causer.
Ease of maintenance and reduced emissions have stimulated the use of propane in police cars and school buses as well as heavy-duty trucks such as Kenworth and Peterbilt. Now, there are more than 27