What are the different types of alternative fuel availible for cars? Can (or Will) any of them be applied practically in the near future? Cheers
125665
There are many alternative fuel vehicles.  Some are on the market today, others are simply concepts.  I'll give a quick rundown of the more popular ones:\n\n1. Flex-fuel vehicles - More than 20% of cars on the road today are flex-fuel capable, which means that they are capable of burning a fuel known as E85.  E85 is 85% ethanol (which is an alcohol made from corn) and denatured with 15% gasoline.\n\n2. Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles.   There are fleet and government vehicles that will run on compressed natural gas.  The engine technology is similar to that of a gasoline engine, with the exception that it has been configured to use natural gas instead of gasoline.  Due to the lack of a refueling infrastructure, privately-owned natural gas vehicles are not very common.\n\n3. Liquefied Propane Gas (LPG).  This is also a fuel used by fleet vehicles, in particularly trucks.  One of the larger users of these vehicles is the Schwan's Foods company, with their big yellow refrigerated delivery trucks.  These trucks use LPG as their fuel.  \n\n4. Biodiesel.  This is a type of diesel fuel that is made from plant or animal fats and oils.  It can be used in most diesel engines with little or no modifications.  Blends such as B5 (5% biodiesel, 95% petro diesel) and B20 are available, as well as the full 100% biodiesel.  Watch for growth in this alternative fuel.\n\n5. Hydrogen.  This fuel can be used both in a standard internal combustion engine like those in cars now, or to generate electricity by feeding it to a fuel cell to generate the electricity, which then runs electric motors.  The problem right now is storing enough hydrogen onboard to make this a feasible concept, as well as developing a safe way to store it.   Most hydrogen-powered vehicles are only concept cars being tested by automakers.\n\n6. Electrical.  Electric cars have been in experimentation for many years.  The problem is storing a sufficient amount of electrical power on board to make them feasible.  If significant advances in battery technology were made, this is a possible concept.\n\nAll of these are still in some degree of experimentation.  However, E85 and biodiesel are real products are on the market for consumers to use today.  As oil prices escalate, these alternative fuels will develop more market appeal.
667459
So far, there's not enough demand to warrent the extra cost of developing alternative energy sources.  In order to stop using oil (for power) we will need to find cheaper ways of getting alternative energy or become much more motivated to do so.
295479
The technology is available to use E85 and have the cars run every bid as good as a regular car. 75% of the cars on the road in Brazil are run on a ethanol based fuel.\n\nIf we would just switch every taxi in the US to E85, imagine how much we could save. Or maybe switch them all to a hybrid car that used E85. \n\nNone of this will happen until the oil companies figure out a way to make money from it. If they can make a buck from E85, then it will become more and more popular. \n\nCongress can pass laws requiring E85, but they won't do much good until people also want to change. It will require people to stop driving the big SUV's and drive a smaller vehicle. I own two small cars that get over 30MPG each. I also own a truck that will get 15 MPG if I am lucky. I need the truck, but it is only driven when I need it for use with my horses. Sure my truck is more comfortable, but my pocket book loves the gas milage in my cars.
361908
How about OCTANE  that's used in the fuel.? Other than some of the other answers this is something that gets talked about on and off the track!!
38199
Yes, there are several ethonal engines available. The reason more ethonal is not produced, however, is supply and demand. There a few ethonal motors on the road, so there is a small demand. It would take a complete phaze-out of gasoline engines in order to fully convert to ethonal, meaning everyone would be required to trade in their cars for the newest model. Since not everyone can afford this, there would still be a need for gasoline.\nAlso, ethonal engines do not get the same power as gasoline engines, which is a deterrent to many. And since ethonal is not currently available everywhere, few are willing to take that extra step on finding out where to buy ethonal fuel.\nCombined with this is the fact that many government officials have a financial interest in the oil economy, and would stand to lose a great deal of money if the country converted to an alternative fuel source.
97983
Try creating alternative fuel. I'm reduced to cycling since the recent fuel price increase.
200372
We give away soy to foreign governments in the form of aid despite the fact we could run our vehicles on it.  Smart, eh?\n\nI would switch as long as it was feasable.  Facilities that dispense alternative fuels are nowhere to be found near me and I don't have the technical skills to mix the stuff myself or else I would in a second.  I deleted the emails but I was in contact with a guy in CA last year that convinced the local government on one of the Hawiian Islands to convert their recycling truck fleet to soy power.  He had some good ideas.  He also takes a soy powered VW Wagon on tour around the country to advertise the benefits of biodiesel.  \n\nGood luck if you choose to convert.  I haven't yet but maybe a few semesters at the vocational institute would pay off in the end.
191404
do something on alternative energy or fuel sources. or hybrid machines.
591203
Its best to think of hydrogen as a 'battery' rather than a power source.  Because we don't have incredibly abundant supplies of free hydrogen on earth, it is not practical for use as an initial energy source.  You are also right in your assertion that it will always take at least as much energy to create hydrogen as we can get by using it, in accordance with the first law of thermodynamics.  \n\nHydrogen is, however, viable as an environmentally friendly fuel to operate vehicles.  This is because the conversion of hydrogen into energy is essentially pollution free and is of high efficiency.  Thus if we use an environmentally friendly power source, such as solar power, to produce the hydrogen, we can run vehicles in an essentially pollution free manner.  As a result, a switch to hydrogen fuel cell vehicles would allow reductions in the overall emissions of our national power production to be reflected in reduced total energy cycle emissions of our vehicles.
26582
I know that one thing they're using them for is car engines, although that's still in it's early phase.  Please to note, though, you left out the fact that extracting hydrogen from it's chemical friends is, as of yet, not energy efficient.  This is the main downfall of hydrogen fuel cells.  Currently, though, photoenzymes are being developed to solve this problem.  Until then, though, fuel cells are not a good alternative energy source.
628611
Hardly. Methane, ethanol (not yet for cars but already viable for power plants), vegetable oil etc.  If we really had to stop burning fossil fuel, the current service stations could distribute the new fuel.  One of the problems with bringing out alternate fuels is that in order to 'compete' with gasoline, it has to be reasonably available to people driving across the country.  Distribution is a tough issue for some of the products.
301365
You can do kerosene injection just like gasoline injection but with different fuel pumps for both applications.Secondly,the fuel economy will not be very good as an engine designed for gasoline runs best on gasoline because properties( chemical and thermal)of Gasoline and kerosene are different.Kerosene will have a different self ignition temp when compared to gasoline.You will be able to optimize the working of the engine by varying the compression ratio to suit the application
657796
in ten years we can't afford the petrol anymore. And the damage to the environment is unrepairable. We should stop driving cars as soon as possible.
68008
http://www.nutramed.com/environment/cars.htm
499579
I'm not sure that methanol has been seriously proposed as a widely used fuel. Methanol is a poisonous alcohol and chemically different from ethanol, which HAS been proposed as an alternative fuel and is available in many stations in the midwest (and extensively in Brazil). GM makes ethanol cars and trucks now.\n\nMethanol is used on a limited basis to fuel internal combustion engines, mainly by virtue of the fact that it is not nearly as flammable as gasoline. Methanol blends are the fuel of choice in open wheel racing circuits like Champcars, as well as in radio controlled model airplanes (required in the "glow-plug" engines that primarily power them), cars and trucks. Dirt circle track racecars such as Sprint cars, Late Models, and Modifieds use methanol to fuel their engines. Drag racers and mud racers also use methanol as their primary fuel source. Methanol is required with a supercharged engine in a Top Alcohol Dragster and, until the end of the 2005 season, all vehicles in the Indianapolis 500 had to run methanol. Mud racers have mixed methanol with gasoline and nitrous oxide to produce more power than gasoline and nitrous oxide alone.\n\nOne concern with the addition of methanol to automotive fuels is highlighted by recent groundwater impacts from the fuel additive methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE). Leaking underground gasoline storage tanks created MTBE plumes in groundwater that eventually adulterated well water. Methanol's high solubility in water raises concerns that similar well water contamination could arise from the widespread use of methanol as an automotive fuel.
272914
As a transition fuel I think bio fuel is good. There are  grasses, straw, sugar cane, corn, many things to try.  No I don't think it will harm our food supply, at least not for a transition period. \n\nI'd like to see research into capturing some of the heat generated in an engine to help move a car, and the use to solar collectors and possibly capturing energy from wind generated as a vehicle travels through the air.  \n\nI'm confident others have more inventive ideas, but until the price of oil started to anger us, those who have an interest in selling us oil have quashed efforts to produce alternative systems.
34860
How about we just stop driving cars that give less than 20 miles/gallon? That will accomplish just as much as alternative energy and it's probably easier. \n\n\nBy the way, can you guess the 5 countries that we get most of our oil from?\n\nWould you have guessed Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, and Nigeria are 4 of the top 5? Saudi Arabia is the only Middle Eastern country in the 5 (at #3).\n\nThat last comment is exactly why it can't happen. People aren't willing to sacrifice the looks of a car in order to lessen our dependence on oil. Everyone wants someone else to solve their problems instead of doing something about it themselves. Typical.