Alternative Green Fuels for Cars

May 25th, 2007 Alex

Six choices that we currently have as alternatives for gasoline are battery, diesel, biodiesel, hydrogen, natural gas, and ethanol. Gasoline powered cars will not be disappearing anytime soon but Hybrid car sales continue to grow every month as more choices appear on the market. Electric cars will definitely take the lead in alternative fuel for cars because of the current technology, effectiveness, and price benefits. Half of the cars in Europe currently use Diesel and more than 7 million more are sold every year. In the US, less than 50,000 are sold. Diesel fuel has a price advantage in Europe as it does not get taxed as much by the government. The manufacturers of diesel cars are mainly European so the costs are reduced since they are made locally. Japanese and American manufacturers have recently been concentrating on hybrid cars. Biodiesel is a great source of energy but there is a limited supply of sources and it currently costs more than gasoline or regular petroleum diesel. Hydrogen fuel produces zero emissions if it comes from renewable source. The fuel is competitively priced with gasoline but can produce double the mileage. Natural gas and ethanol are also both good choices that can be better than gasoline, but because of the limited resources and price, gasoline is still the best choice for cars because of the ease of access to gas stations everywhere you go. Here is a website that gives a good summary of the different alternative car fuels that we could be using in the future.

http://www.time4.com/time4/microsites/popsci/futureofcars/altfuel_main.html

Entry Filed under: Automobile,Green Tech