Alternative fuel...

Alternative fuel vehicles: Almost all vehicles, from cars to airplanes and submarines, are designed to run on nonrenewable fossil fuels like gasoline or diesel. Since it is universally known that non-renewable fossil fuels will not last forever, finding alternative fuel options has become an imperative requirement for future vehicle operational needs.

Governments, automobile engineers and scientists all over the world are trying very hard to develop alternative fuel vehicles. Alternative fuel automobiles are projected as the vehicles of the future, which are being designed to run on fuels other than gasoline or diesel. The good news is that some of these vehicles are already on the road, while others are in the research or development process. There are other important reasons for shifting to unconventional fuels, like stricter pollution norms all over the world, especially developed countries, and a steep rise in the price of conventional fuels.

Alternative fuel car: Alternative fuel car is a collective term, which can be used for different types of vehicles from light three-wheeler vehicles to four-wheelers to road trains. Alternative fuel car or automobiles run on alternative fuel, i.e. any fuel other than petroleum to power the engine. As mentioned, with stricter pollution emission norms and sky rocketing petrol prices, not to forget the government’s stricter rules for controlling green house gas emissions, which includes imposing controls on all types of polluting gas and chemical emissions, the car and automobile manufacturing companies have already started working on alternative fuel car options.

These options are not only eco-friendly, but they are also very practical and can be reasonably adopted for the present generation of automobiles, without any major alterations to the engine. For example, diesel-powered cars run with little or no modification on 100% biodiesel, a fuel made from vegetable oils. However, vehicles used in cold weather countries do require some modification. Another good alternative fuel option is using ethanol, which is derived from plant sugar, instead of gasoline. At present, most gasoline-powered vehicles can run on gasoline mixed with 15% ethanol. However, with some modifications, these can run on ethanol concentrations as high as 85%.

Alternative fuel other than diesel: There are many alternative fuel options to diesel namely:

Battery Electric Vehicles: Electric vehicles run on electricity, which is stored in batteries, instead of gasoline or diesel. These vehicles can be plugged into charging stations with 220 V outlets, or even at home or office, to charge the batteries. EV does not produce any pollution at all!

Hybrid Electric Vehicles: A more practical option for alternative fuel vehicles is the hybrid electric vehicles, which uses two or more power sources for running the vehicle, instead of only diesel. The most common example of hybrid vehicles on the road today is the gasoline-electric hybrid, which has a gasoline engine and an electric motor to power it.

The other major alternative fuel vehicle models are natural gas vehicles, Fuel-Cell vehicles, and Bio-diesel vehicles, and last but not the least, the oldest alternative fuel option - people-powered vehicles like bicycles. The list of alternative fuel car source is ever increasing, but while it is essential to invent them, their application on our vehicles is equally important.

Alternative fuel sources: There are many sources of alternative fuel options like plants, air, natural gas, water and liquid nitrogen. However, the interest in alternative fuels is waning, and hybrids are now getting all the attention from the government. The reason being, that hybrids use a more adaptable alternative fuel source, because it is mixed with conventional energy resources like gasoline. This makes the fuel more practical, and encourages people to use it.