Future of Car Fuel : Some Emerging Trends

In the International Market price of crude oil is lowering down, it is almost half of the price what it was two years back. So naturally people have kept talking about the alternate fuels on the back burner. But the future of petroleum fuel is limited, if we do not find a potent alternate fuel than there will be a great danger to the very existence of humanity. It is In the very near future that most vehicle owners will be reusing frying oil to fuel their trucks or plugging their cars into the wall just like a toaster. As gas prices rise, manufacturers are steadily lowering the price points for engines that utilize alternative fuel options that don't use natural resources or harm the environment. New alternative fuels are popping up faster than you can say "fill 'er up," making it important to understand which ones may be right for your vehicle and driving needs. There are some of the sustainable and practicable alternative fuel options emerging for the future. Biodiesel is an eco-friendly fuel that can be made from animal fats, algae, or from recycled vegetable oils like those used by restaurants to cook up French fries and other greasy goodies. Clean, veggie-based, and carbon-neutral, this fuel can usually run in any diesel car or truck with little or no modification to the engine. Biodiesel burns cleaner than fossil fuel diesel, expelling fewer aromatic hydrocarbons and less soot and carbon monoxide. Because CO2 released by biodiesel is the same kind absorbed by the plant (or animal) source from where the fuel came, biodiesel is called a carbon neutral fuel. Unfortunately, biodiesel releases more nitrous oxide than regular diesel, a factor in smog. In 2005, the U.S. alone produced around 75 million gallons of this alternative fuel and in 2006, 65 companies reported having biodiesel plants under construction. Ethanol is another popular alternative fuel that is usually made from fibrous materials like wood chips or from the starch or sugar found in common crops like corn. Ethanol burns cleaner than gasoline while reducing greenhouse gases. Ethanol is already in use, powering nearly six million flex-fuel vehicles already on the road. United States of America is widely considered the world's largest ethanol producer, cranking out 4.6 billion gallons of ethanol each year. Vegetable oil can power a diesel engine after just a few simple modifications, turning junker cars into low emissions vehicles. Before use, vegetable oil must be put through a conversion system so that it is heated to the appropriate temperature to properly run an engine, but once users get the hang of the process, there are many benefits beyond the low emissions. I remember, in 1995 I was working as Brand Head of a commercial Bank in rural area, there many farmers were using mustard oil to run their pumping sets in the area, they were highly appreciative with the running efficiency as well as less pollution ! Because both unused and used vegetable oil work to fuel a car, people who convert often brag about never having to pay for their fuel, instead relying on the never-ending supply of used cooking oils from restaurants. Electricity isn't new, but modern science has found interesting and eco-friendly uses for it. Electric vehicles are eco-friendly because they don't produce tailpipe emissions, although the generators producing the electricity used to charge EV batteries do emit pollutants. However, these pollutants are considered to be minimal when compared to the usage of gas. In 2013 production of EV & PHEV light vehicles (cars and light trucks) was 242,075, according to London-based IHS Automotive. The production for 2014 is around 403,000. The number on road at start of 2014 was 405,000 (174,000 in USA, 68,000 in Japan and 45,000 in China). (Total light vehicle production in 2013 was 84.7 million – 20.9 million of this in China.) Sales of non plug-in hybrids were about 1.3 million in 2012 and 2013. The Chinese government has a target of putting 500,000 EV and PHEVs on the road by 2016. China has the biggest fleet of battery-electric bicycles, with more than 150 million in service, and 36 million manufactured each year Hydrogen currently isn't powering any consumer vehicles, though many city bus systems have already made the switch to this zero-emissions alternative fuel. Because of the many benefits, it seems to be only a matter of time until this efficient fuel makes its way into your vehicle. The. Governments across the developed countries are trying to overcome the cost and production challenges and anticipates progress sometime soon. Compressed Natural Gas is clear, odorless, and non-corrosive. Impressively, vehicles run off of natural gas show an average reduction in ozone-forming emissions of 80 percent compared to gasoline vehicles, and CNG is produced at a relatively low cost and is cleaner burning than gasoline or diesel fuel. Apart from the above mentioned alternatives, work is seriously going on in the field of solar energy but so far it is not suitable for vehicles on the road due to the size of solar panels on the vehicles. But who knows that some smart solution emerge by reducing the size of solar panels thereby the power source fit into the conventional size vehicles.

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