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An alternative fuel vehicle is a motor vehicle that runs on
alternative fuel Alternative fuel, known as non-conventional and advanced fuels, are any materials or substances that can be used as fuels, other than conventional fuels like; ''fossil fuels'' (petroleum (oil), coal, and natural gas), as well as nuclear materi ...
rather than traditional petroleum fuels (
petrol Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic c ...
or petrodiesel). The term also refers to any technology (e.g. electric car, hybrid electric vehicles,
solar-powered vehicles Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic ef ...
) powering an engine that does not solely involve
petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...
. Because of a combination of factors, such as environmental concerns, high oil-prices and the potential for
peak oil Peak oil is the hypothetical point in time when the maximum rate of global oil production is reached, after which it is argued that production will begin an irreversible decline. It is related to the distinct concept of oil depletion; whil ...
, development of cleaner alternative fuels and advanced power systems for vehicles has become a high priority for many governments and vehicle manufacturers around the world. Vehicle engines powered by gasolene/petrol first emerged in the 1860s and 1870s; they took until the 1930s to completely dominate the original "alternative" engines driven by steam (18th century), by gases (early 19th century), or by electricity ( 1830s). Hybrid electric vehicles such as the Toyota Prius are not actually alternative fuel vehicles, but through advanced technologies in the electric battery and motor/generator, they make a more efficient use of petroleum fuel. Other research-and-development efforts in alternative forms of power focus on developing all-electric and
fuel cell vehicle A fuel cell vehicle (FCV) or fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) is an electric vehicle that uses a fuel cell, sometimes in combination with a small battery or supercapacitor, to power its onboard electric motor. Fuel cells in vehicles generate e ...
s, and even on the stored energy of compressed air. An environmental analysis of the impacts of various vehicle-fuels extends beyond just operating efficiency and emissions, especially if a technology comes into wide use. A life-cycle assessment of a vehicle involves production and post-use considerations. A cradle-to-cradle design is more important than a focus on a single factor such as the type of fuel.


Global outlook

, there were more than 1.4 billion motor vehicles on the world's roads, ''See Tables 3.2 and 3.3'' compared with just more than 116 million alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles that had been sold or converted worldwide at the end of 2016 and consisting of: * About 55 million flex fuel automobiles, motorcycles and light duty trucks manufactured and sold worldwide by mid 2015, led by Brazil with 29.5 million by mid 2015, followed by the United States with 17.4 million by the end of 2014, Canada with about 1.6 million by 2014, and Sweden with 243,100 through December 2014. The Brazilian flex fuel fleet includes over 4 million flexible-fuel motorcycles produced since 2009 through March 2015. * 22.7 million natural gas vehicles , led by China (4.4 million)
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
with 4.00 million, followed by
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
(3.70 million),
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
(2.48 million),
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
(1.80 million) and
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
(1.78 million). * 24.9 million LPG powered vehicles by December 2013, led by
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
with 3.93 million,
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...
(2.4 million), and Poland (2.75 million). * More than 12 million hybrid electric vehicles have been sold worldwide. , Japan ranked as the market leader with more than 5 million hybrids sold, followed by the United States with cumulative sales of over 4 million units since 1999, and Europe with about 1.5 million hybrids delivered since 2000. , global sales are by Toyota Motor Company with more than 10 million
Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked among the 10 largest Japanese ...
and Toyota hybrids sold, followed by
Honda Motor Co., Ltd. is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...
with cumulative global sales of more than 1.35 million hybrids . , global hybrid sales are led by the Prius family, with cumulative sales of 6.1 million units. The Toyota Prius liftback is the world's top selling hybrid electric car with cumulative sales of 3.985 million units through January 2017. *5.7 million neat-ethanol only light-vehicles built in Brazil since 1979, pp. 62–63. with 2.4 to 3.0 million vehicles still in use by 2003. and 1.22 million units as of December 2011. * More than 10 million highway-legal plug-in electric passenger cars and light utility vehicles had been sold worldwide at the end of 2020. , the Tesla Model 3 listed as the world's top selling highway-capable plug-in electric car in history, with global sales since inception of more than 800,000 units, "Global sales totaled 3,124,793 plug-in passenger cars in 2020, with a BEV to PHEV ratio of 69:31, and a global market share of 4%. The world's top selling plug-in car was the Tesla Model 3 with 365,240 units delivered, and Tesla was the top selling manufacturer of plug-in passenger cars in 2019 with 499,535 units, followed by VW with 220,220." followed by the
Nissan Leaf The , stylized as LEAF, is a compact five-door hatchback battery electric vehicle (BEV) manufactured by Nissan. It was introduced in Japan and the United States in December 2010, and its second generation was introduced in October 2017. The Lea ...
with 500,000 units. The
Mitsubishi Outlander P-HEV The is a mid-size crossover SUV manufactured by Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors. It was originally known as the when it was introduced in Japan in 2001. The original Airtrek name was chosen to "describe the vehicle's ability to transpo ...
is the world's all-time best selling plug-in hybrid with global sales of 270,000 units through December 2020. :, China had the world's largest stock of highway legal plug-in electric passenger cars with 4.5 million units, representing 42% of the world's stock of plug-in cars. ''See Statistical annex, pp. 247–252 (See Tables A.1 and A.12).'' ''NEV sales in China totaled 1.637 million in 2020, consisting of 1.246 million passenger cars and 121,000 commercial vehicles.'' Europe ranked next with over 3.2 million plug-in passenger cars at the end of 2020, accounting for about 30% of the global stock. Filters: Elecricity/EU + UK + EFTA + Turkey/2020 (YTD) - See grahp "AF Fleet M1 Electricity (2020) Total number AF passenger cars in the fleet": BEV=1,722,003 and 1,394,915 PHEVs (Total=3,116,918 plug-in passenger cars on the road) Filters: Elecricity/EU + UK + EFTA + Turkey/2020 (YTD) - See grahp "AF Fleet Electricity (2020)": BEV=146,611 (total number AF light commercial vehicles) and "AF New Registrations Electricity (2020)": BEV=37,535 (newly registered AF light commercial vehicles) The U.S. cumulative sales totaled about 1.8 million plug-in cars through December 2020. ''National sales 2020: 322,442, cumulative sales 1,786,258. California sales 2020: 145,099, cumulative sales 803,816.'' * There were 31,225 passenger fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) powered with
hydrogen Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic ...
on the world's roads. ''Go to th
Global EV Data Explorer
tool and choose "EV Stock", "Cars" and "World" for global stock, and "Country" for the country stock.''
South Korea is the country market with the largest stock of passenger FCEVs with 10,041 units, followed by the United States (9,135), China (5,546) and Japan (4,100).


Single fuel source


Engine air compressor

The air engine is an emission-free piston engine that uses compressed air as a source of energy. The first compressed air car was invented by a French engineer named Guy Nègre. The expansion of compressed air may be used to drive the pistons in a modified piston engine. Efficiency of operation is gained through the use of environmental heat at normal temperature to warm the otherwise cold expanded air from the storage tank. This non-adiabatic expansion has the potential to greatly increase the efficiency of the machine. The only exhaust is cold air (−15 °C), which could also be used to air condition the car. The source for air is a pressurized carbon-fiber tank. Air is delivered to the engine via a rather conventional injection system. Unique crank design within the engine increases the time during which the air charge is warmed from ambient sources and a two-stage process allows improved heat transfer rates.


Electric, fed by external source

Electric power fed from an external source to the vehicle is standard in railway electrification. At such systems usually the tracks form one pole, while the other is usually a single overhead wire or a rail insulated against ground. On roads this system does not work as described, as normal road surfaces are very poor electric conductors; and so electric vehicles fed with external power on roads require at least two overhead wires. The most common type of road vehicles fed with electricity from external source are
trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or trol ...
ses, but there are also some trucks powered with this technology. The advantage is that the vehicle can be operated without breaks for refueling or charging. Disadvantages include: a large infrastructure of electric wires; difficulty in driving as one has to prevent a dewirement of the vehicle; vehicles cannot overtake each other; a danger of electrocution; and an aesthetic problem. Wireless transmission (see
Wireless power transfer Wireless power transfer (WPT), wireless power transmission, wireless energy transmission (WET), or electromagnetic power transfer is the transmission of electrical energy without wires as a physical link. In a wireless power transmission system ...
) is possible, in principal; but the infrastructure (especially wiring) necessary for inductive or capacitive coupling would be extensive and expensive. In principle it is also possible to transmit energy by microwaves or by lasers to the vehicle, but this may be inefficient and dangerous for the power required. Beside this, in the case of lasers one requires a guidance system to track the vehicle to be powered, as laser beams have a small diameter.


Battery-electric

Battery electric vehicle A battery electric vehicle (BEV), pure electric vehicle, only-electric vehicle, fully electric vehicle or all-electric vehicle is a type of electric vehicle (EV) that exclusively uses chemical energy stored in rechargeable battery packs, ...
s (BEVs), also known as all-electric vehicles (AEVs), are electric vehicles whose main energy storage is in the chemical energy of batteries. BEVs are the most common form of what is defined by the
California Air Resources Board The California Air Resources Board (CARB or ARB) is the "clean air agency" of the government of California. Established in 1967 when then-governor Ronald Reagan signed the Mulford-Carrell Act, combining the Bureau of Air Sanitation and the Moto ...
(CARB) as zero emission vehicle (ZEV) because they produce no tailpipe emissions at the point of operation. The electrical energy carried on board a BEV to power the motors is obtained from a variety of battery chemistries arranged into battery packs. For additional range genset trailers or pusher trailers are sometimes used, forming a type of hybrid vehicle. Batteries used in electric vehicles include "flooded" lead-acid, absorbed glass mat, NiCd, nickel metal hydride, Li-ion, Li-poly and zinc-air batteries. Attempts at building viable, modern battery-powered electric vehicles began in the 1950s with the introduction of the first modern (
transistor upright=1.4, gate (G), body (B), source (S) and drain (D) terminals. The gate is separated from the body by an insulating layer (pink). A transistor is a semiconductor device used to Electronic amplifier, amplify or electronic switch, switch ...
controlled) electric car – the Henney Kilowatt, even though the concept was out in the market since 1890. Despite the poor sales of the early battery-powered vehicles, development of various battery-powered vehicles continued through the mid-1990s, with such models as the
General Motors EV1 The General Motors EV1 was an electric car produced and leased by General Motors from 1996 to 1999. It was the first mass-produced and purpose-designed electric vehicle of the modern era from a major automaker and the first GM car designed to b ...
and the Toyota RAV4 EV. Battery powered cars had primarily used lead-acid batteries and NiMH batteries. Lead-acid batteries' recharge capacity is considerably reduced if they're discharged beyond 75% on a regular basis, making them a less-than-ideal solution. NiMH batteries are a better choice, but are considerably more expensive than lead-acid.
Lithium-ion battery A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery which uses the reversible reduction of lithium ions to store energy. It is the predominant battery type used in portable consumer electronics and electric vehicles. It also s ...
powered vehicles such as the Venturi Fetish and the Tesla Roadster have recently demonstrated excellent performance and range, and nevertheless is used in most mass production models launched since December 2010. Expanding on traditional Lithium-ion batteries predominately used in today's battery electric vehicles, is an emerging science that is paving the way to utilize a carbon fiber structure (a vehicle body or chassis in this case) as a structural battery. Experiments being conducted at th
Chalmers University of Technology
in Sweden are showing that when coupled with Lithium-ion insertion mechanisms, an enhanced carbon fiber structure can have electromechanical properties. This means that the carbon fiber structure itself can act as its own battery/power source for propulsion. This would negate the need for traditional heavy battery banks, reducing weight and therefore increasing fuel efficiency. , several neighborhood electric vehicles, city electric cars and
series production Mass production, also known as flow production or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines. Together with job production and batch ...
highway-capable electric cars and utility vans have been made available for retails sales, including Tesla Roadster, GEM cars, Buddy, Mitsubishi i MiEV and its rebadged versions Peugeot iOn and Citroën C-Zero, Chery QQ3 EV, JAC J3 EV,
Nissan Leaf The , stylized as LEAF, is a compact five-door hatchback battery electric vehicle (BEV) manufactured by Nissan. It was introduced in Japan and the United States in December 2010, and its second generation was introduced in October 2017. The Lea ...
,
Smart ED The Smart EQ Fortwo, formerly Smart Fortwo electric drive, ''smart ed'' or Smart Fortwo EV, is a battery electric vehicle variant of the Smart Fortwo city car made by Smart. The Smart EQ Forfour is an electric variant of the larger Smart Forfour ...
, Mia electric,
BYD e6 The BYD e6 is an all-electric compact crossover/compact MPV manufactured by BYD from 2009. Field testing for the first generation model began in China in May 2010 with 40 units operating as taxis in the city of Shenzhen. Sales to the general pub ...
, Renault Kangoo Z.E., Bolloré Bluecar,
Renault Fluence Z.E. The Renault Fluence Z.E. is an electric version of the Renault Fluence compact sedan, part of the Renault Z.E. program of battery electric vehicles. It was unveiled by Renault at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show. The Fluence Z.E. is outfitted with a ...
, Ford Focus Electric, BMW ActiveE,
Renault Twizy The Renault Twizy is a two-seat Electric vehicle, electric microcar designed and marketed by Renault. It is classified in Europe as either a Motorised quadricycle#Light quadricycles (L6e), light or Motorised quadricycle#Heavy quadricycles (L7e), h ...
, Tesla Model S, Honda Fit EV, RAV4 EV second generation, Renault Zoe, Mitsubishi Minicab MiEV, Roewe E50,
Chevrolet Spark EV The Chevrolet Spark ( ko, 쉐보레 스파크, translit=) is a city car manufactured by General Motors's subsidiary GM Korea from 1998 to 2022. The vehicle was initially developed by Daewoo and was introduced in 1998 as the Daewoo Matiz ( ko, � ...
,
Fiat 500e Fiat 500e is the name of a battery electric automobile made by Italian car manufacturer Fiat from 2013-2019. It was an electric conversion of the internal combustion Fiat 500, and was sold in the US states of California and Oregon as a “complian ...
, BMW i3, Volkswagen e-Up!, Nissan e-NV200,
Volkswagen e-Golf The Volkswagen Golf (Mk7) is a small family car (C-segment) produced by German automobile manufacturer Volkswagen, as the seventh generation of the Golf and the successor to the Golf Mk6. It was introduced in Berlin on 4 September 2012, befor ...
, Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive, Kia Soul EV, BYD e5, and
Tesla Model X The Tesla Model X is a battery electric mid-size luxury crossover SUV produced by Tesla, Inc. since 2015. Developed from the full-sized sedan platform of the Tesla Model S, the vehicle is notable in that it uses falcon-wing doors for passe ...
. The world's all-time top selling highway legal electric car is the
Nissan Leaf The , stylized as LEAF, is a compact five-door hatchback battery electric vehicle (BEV) manufactured by Nissan. It was introduced in Japan and the United States in December 2010, and its second generation was introduced in October 2017. The Lea ...
, released in December 2010, with global sales of more than 250,000 units through December 2016. '', the Nissan Leaf is the world's best-selling plug-in car in history with more than 250,000 units delivered, followed by the Tesla Model S with over 158,000 sales (which may soon replace the Nissan Leaf in most EV sales), the Volt/Ampera family of vehicles with 134,500 vehicles sold, and the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV with about 116,500 units sold through November 2016. These are the only plug-in electric cars so far with over 100,000 global sales.'' The Tesla Model S, released in June 2012, ranks second with global sales of over 158,000 cars delivered . The Renault Kangoo Z.E. utility van is the leader of the light-duty all-electric segment with global sales of 25,205 units through December 2016. '' Includes passenger and light utility variants. Click on "(décembre 2016)" to download the file "XLSX - 239 Ko" for CYTD sales in 2016, and open the tab "Sales by Model". Click on "+ Voir plus" (See more) to download the files "Ventes mensuelles du groupe (décembre 2011) (xls, 183 Ko)" "Ventes mensuelles (décembre 2012) (xls, 289 Ko)" - Ventes mensuelles (décembre 2013) (xlsx, 227 Ko)" - "XLSX - 220 Ko Ventes mensuelles (décembre 2014)" - "Ventes mensuelles (décembre 2015)" to download the file "XLSX - 227 Ko" for 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 sales. Sales figures for 2013 were revised in the 2014 report''


Electric, stored-otherway

Electricity can be also stored in supercapacitors and supraconductors. However supraconductor storage is unsuitable for vehicle propulsion as it requires extreme deep temperature and produces strong magnetic fields. Supercapacitors, however, can be used in vehicles and are used in some trams on sections without overhead wire. They can be load in during regular stops, at which passengers enter and leave the train, but can only travel a few kilometres with the stored energy. However, this is no problem in this case as the next stop is usually in reachable distance.


Solar

A solar car is an electric vehicle powered by solar energy obtained from solar panels on the car. Solar panels cannot currently be used to directly supply a car with a suitable amount of power at this time, but they can be used to extend the range of electric vehicles. They are raced in competitions such as the World Solar Challenge and the North American Solar Challenge. These events are often sponsored by Government agencies such as the United States Department of Energy keen to promote the development of alternative energy technology such as solar cells and electric vehicles. Such challenges are often entered by universities to develop their students' engineering and technological skills as well as motor vehicle manufacturers such as GM and Honda. The North American Solar Challenge is a solar car race across North America. Originally called Sunrayce, organized and sponsored by General Motors in 1990, it was renamed American Solar Challenge in 2001, sponsored by the United States Department of Energy and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Teams from universities in the United States and Canada compete in a long distance test of endurance as well as efficiency, driving thousands of miles on regular highways.
Nuna Nuna is the name of a series of manned solar powered race cars that have won the World Solar Challenge in Australia seven times: in 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2013, 2015 and 2017. The vehicles are built by students who are part of the "Brunel Sola ...
is the name of a series of manned solar powered vehicles that won the World solar challenge in Australia three times in a row, in 2001 (Nuna 1 or just Nuna), 2003 (Nuna 2) and 2005 (Nuna 3). The Nunas are built by students of the Delft University of Technology. The World solar challenge is a solar powered car race over through central Australia from Darwin to Adelaide. The race attracts teams from around the world, most of which are fielded by universities or corporations although some are fielded by high schools. Trev (two-seater renewable energy vehicle) was designed by the staff and students at the University of South Australia. Trev was first displayed at the 2005 World Solar Challenge as the concept of a low-mass, efficient commuter car. With 3 wheels and a mass of about 300 kg, the prototype car had maximum speed of 120 km/h and acceleration of 0–100 km/h in about 10 seconds. The running cost of Trev is projected to be less than 1/10 of the running cost of a small petrol car.


Dimethyl ether fuel

Dimethyl ether (DME) is a promising fuel in diesel engines,
petrol engine A petrol engine (gasoline engine in American English) is an internal combustion engine designed to run on petrol (gasoline). Petrol engines can often be adapted to also run on fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas and ethanol blends (such as ' ...
s (30% DME / 70% LPG), and gas turbines owing to its high
cetane number Cetane number (cetane rating) is an indicator of the combustion speed of diesel fuel and compression needed for ignition. It plays a similar role for diesel as octane rating does for gasoline. The CN is an important factor in determining the quali ...
, which is 55, compared to diesel's, which is 40–53. Only moderate modifications are needed to convert a diesel engine to burn DME. The simplicity of this short carbon chain compound leads during combustion to very low emissions of particulate matter, NOx, CO. For these reasons as well as being sulfur-free, DME meets even the most stringent emission regulations in Europe (EURO5), U.S. (U.S. 2010), and Japan (2009 Japan). Mobil is using DME in their methanol to gasoline process. DME is being developed as a synthetic second generation biofuel (BioDME), which can be manufactured from
lignocellulosic biomass Lignocellulose refers to plant dry matter (biomass), so called lignocellulosic biomass. It is the most abundantly available raw material on the Earth for the production of biofuels. It is composed of two kinds of carbohydrate polymers, cellulose a ...
. Currently the EU is considering BioDME in its potential biofuel mix in 2030; the
Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...
Group is the coordinator for the
European Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...
Seventh Framework Programme The Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development, also called Framework Programmes or abbreviated FP1 to FP9, are funding programmes created by the European Union/European Commission to support and foster research in the Europe ...
project BioDME where Chemrec's BioDME pilot plant based on black liquor gasification is nearing completion in Piteå, Sweden.


Ammonia fuelled vehicles

Ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride, and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinct pungent smell. Biologically, it is a common nitrogenous wa ...
is produced by combining gaseous hydrogen with nitrogen from the air. Large-scale ammonia production uses natural gas for the source of hydrogen. Ammonia was used during World War II to power buses in Belgium, and in engine and solar energy applications prior to 1900. Liquid ammonia also fuelled the Reaction Motors XLR99 rocket engine, that powered the
X-15 The North American X-15 is a hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft. It was operated by the United States Air Force and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as part of the X-plane series of experimental aircraft. The X-15 set spee ...
hypersonic research aircraft. Although not as powerful as other fuels, it left no soot in the reusable rocket engine and its density approximately matches the density of the oxidizer, liquid oxygen, which simplified the aircraft's design.
Ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride, and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinct pungent smell. Biologically, it is a common nitrogenous wa ...
has been proposed as a practical alternative to fossil fuel for
internal combustion engines An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal combust ...
. The calorific value of ammonia is 22.5 MJ/kg (9690 BTU/lb), which is about half that of diesel. In a normal engine, in which the water vapour is not condensed, the calorific value of ammonia will be about 21% less than this figure. It can be used in existing engines with only minor modifications to carburettors/ injectors. If produced from coal, the CO2 can be readily sequestered (the combustion products are nitrogen and water). Ammonia engines or ammonia motors, using ammonia as a working fluid, have been proposed and occasionally used. The principle is similar to that used in a
fireless locomotive A fireless locomotive is a type of locomotive which uses reciprocating engines powered from a reservoir of compressed air or steam, which is filled at intervals from an external source. They offer advantages over conventional steam locomotives of ...
, but with ammonia as the working fluid, instead of steam or compressed air. Ammonia engines were used experimentally in the 19th century by Goldsworthy Gurney in the UK and in
streetcars in New Orleans Streetcars in New Orleans have been an integral part of the city's public transportation network since the first half of the 19th century. The longest of New Orleans' streetcar lines, the St. Charles Avenue line, is the oldest continuously oper ...
. In 1981 a Canadian company converted a 1981 Chevrolet Impala to operate using ammonia as fuel. Ammonia and is being used with success by developers in Canada, since it can run in spark ignited or diesel engines with minor modifications, also the only green fuel to power jet engines, and despite its toxicity is reckoned to be no more dangerous than petrol or LPG. It can be made from renewable electricity, and having half the density of petrol or diesel can be readily carried in sufficient quantities in vehicles. On complete combustion it has no emissions other than nitrogen and water vapour. The combustion chemical formula is 4 NH3 + 3 O2 → 2 N2 + 6 H2O, 75% water is the result.


Biofuels


Bioalcohol and ethanol

The first commercial vehicle that used
ethanol Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl group linked to a ...
as a fuel was the Ford Model T, produced from 1908 through 1927. It was fitted with a carburetor with adjustable jetting, allowing use of gasoline or ethanol, or a combination of both. Other car manufactures also provided engines for ethanol fuel use. In the United States, alcohol fuel was produced in corn-alcohol
still A still is an apparatus used to distill liquid mixtures by heating to selectively boil and then cooling to condense the vapor. A still uses the same concepts as a basic distillation apparatus, but on a much larger scale. Stills have been use ...
s until
Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol ...
criminalized the production of alcohol in 1919. The use of alcohol as a fuel for
internal combustion engine An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal c ...
s, either alone or in combination with other fuels, lapsed until the oil price shocks of the 1970s. Furthermore, additional attention was gained because of its possible environmental and long-term economical advantages over fossil fuel. Both
ethanol Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl group linked to a ...
and methanol have been used as an automotive fuel. While both can be obtained from petroleum or natural gas, ethanol has attracted more attention because it is considered a
renewable resource A renewable resource, also known as a flow resource, is a natural resource which will replenish to replace the portion depleted by usage and consumption, either through natural reproduction or other recurring processes in a finite amount of ti ...
, easily obtained from sugar or starch in crops and other agricultural produce such as grain, sugarcane, sugar beets or even lactose. Since ethanol occurs in nature whenever yeast happens to find a sugar solution such as overripe fruit, most organisms have evolved some tolerance to
ethanol Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl group linked to a ...
, whereas methanol is toxic. Other experiments involve
butanol Butanol (also called butyl alcohol) is a four-carbon alcohol with a formula of C4 H9 O H, which occurs in five isomeric structures (four structural isomers), from a straight-chain primary alcohol to a branched-chain tertiary alcohol; all are a bu ...
, which can also be produced by fermentation of plants. Support for ethanol comes from the fact that it is a biomass fuel, which addresses
climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...
and
greenhouse gas emissions Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and ...
, though these benefits are now highly debated, Oxfam Briefing Paper 114. Originally published online in Science Express on 7 February 2008. See Letters to ''Science'' by Wang and Haq. There are critics to these findings for assuming a worst-case scenario. Originally published online in Science Express on 7 February 2008. There are rebuttals to these findings for assuming a worst-case scenario including the heated 2008
food vs fuel Food versus fuel is the dilemma regarding the risk of diverting farmland or crops for biofuels production to the detriment of the food supply. The biofuel and food price debate involves wide-ranging views, and is a long-standing, controversial ...
debate. Most modern cars are designed to run on gasoline are capable of running with a blend from 10% up to 15% ethanol mixed into gasoline ( E10-E15). With a small amount of redesign, gasoline-powered vehicles can run on ethanol concentrations as high as 85% (
E85 E85 is an abbreviation typically referring to an ethanol fuel blend of 85% ethanol fuel and 15% gasoline or other hydrocarbon by volume. In the United States, the exact ratio of fuel ethanol to hydrocarbon may vary according to ASTM 5798 that ...
), the maximum set in the United States and Europe due to cold weather during the winter, or up to 100% ( E100) in Brazil, with a warmer climate. Ethanol has close to 34% less energy per volume than gasoline,http://www.eere.energy.go
Energy.gov site
http://www.eia.doe.go
Alternative Fuel Efficiencies in Miles per Gallon
consequently fuel economy ratings with ethanol blends are significantly lower than with pure gasoline, but this lower energy content does not translate directly into a 34% reduction in mileage, because there are many other variables that affect the performance of a particular fuel in a particular engine, and also because ethanol has a higher octane rating which is beneficial to high compression ratio engines. For this reason, for pure or high ethanol blends to be attractive for users, its price must be lower than gasoline to offset the lower fuel economy. As a rule of thumb, Brazilian consumers are frequently advised by the local media to use more alcohol than gasoline in their mix only when ethanol prices are 30% lower or more than gasoline, as ethanol price fluctuates heavily depending on the results and seasonal harvests of sugar cane and by region. In the US, and based on EPA tests for all 2006
E85 E85 is an abbreviation typically referring to an ethanol fuel blend of 85% ethanol fuel and 15% gasoline or other hydrocarbon by volume. In the United States, the exact ratio of fuel ethanol to hydrocarbon may vary according to ASTM 5798 that ...
models, the average fuel economy for E85 vehicles was found 25.56% lower than unleaded gasoline. The EPA-rated mileage of current American flex-fuel vehicles could be considered when making price comparisons, though E85 has octane rating of about 104 and could be used as a substitute for premium gasoline. Regional retail E85 prices vary widely across the US, with more favorable prices in the Midwest region, where most corn is grown and ethanol produced. In August 2008 the US average spread between the price of
E85 E85 is an abbreviation typically referring to an ethanol fuel blend of 85% ethanol fuel and 15% gasoline or other hydrocarbon by volume. In the United States, the exact ratio of fuel ethanol to hydrocarbon may vary according to ASTM 5798 that ...
and gasoline was 16.9%, while in
Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
was 35%, 30% in
Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
and
Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
, 19% in
Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
, 12 to 15% in California, and just 3% in
Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
. Depending on the vehicle capabilities, the break even price of E85 usually has to be between 25 and 30% lower than gasoline. Reacting to the high price of oil and its growing dependence on imports, in 1975
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
launched the Pro-alcool program, a huge government-subsidized effort to manufacture ethanol fuel (from its sugar cane crop) and ethanol-powered automobiles. These ethanol-only vehicles were very popular in the 1980s, but became economically impractical when oil prices fell – and sugar prices rose – late in that decade. In May 2003
Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a global brand post-W ...
built for the first time a commercial ethanol flexible fuel car, the Gol 1.6 Total Flex. These vehicles were a commercial success and by early 2009 other nine Brazilian manufacturers are producing flexible fuel vehicles: Chevrolet, Fiat,
Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...
,
Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and the ...
,
Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufacture ...
,
Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...
, Mitsubishi,
Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
, Citroën, and Nissan. The adoption of the flex technology was so rapid, that flexible fuel cars reached 87.6% of new car sales in July 2008. As of August 2008, the fleet of "flex" automobiles and light commercial vehicles had reached 6 million new vehicles sold, representing almost 19% of all registered light vehicles. As of March 31, 2008, DENATRAN reports a total fleet of 50 million, including motorcycles, trucks and special equipment, and 32 million automobiles and light commercial vehicles. The rapid success of "flex" vehicles, as they are popularly known, was made possible by the existence of 33,000 filling stations with at least one ethanol pump available by 2006, a heritage of the ''Pro-alcool'' program. ''See Chapter 6. Homegrown Energy.'' In the United States, initial support to develop alternative fuels by the government was also a response to the 1973 oil crisis, and later on, as a goal to improve air quality. Also, liquid fuels were preferred over gaseous fuels not only because they have a better volumetric energy density but also because they were the most compatible fuels with existing distribution systems and engines, thus avoiding a big departure from the existing technologies and taking advantage of the vehicle and the refueling infrastructure. California led the search of sustainable alternatives with interest in methanol. In 1996, a new FFV
Ford Taurus The Ford Taurus is an automobile that was manufactured by the Ford Motor Company in the United States from the 1986 to 2019 model years. Introduced in late 1985 for the 1986 model year, six generations were produced over 34 years; a brief hiat ...
was developed, with models fully capable of running either methanol or ethanol blended with gasoline. This ethanol version of the Taurus was the first commercial production of an E85 FFV. The momentum of the FFV production programs at the American car companies continued, although by the end of the 1990s, the emphasis was on the FFV E85 version, as it is today. Ethanol was preferred over methanol because there is a large support in the farming community and thanks to government's incentive programs and corn-based ethanol subsidies. Sweden also tested both the M85 and the E85 flexifuel vehicles, but due to agriculture policy, in the end emphasis was given to the ethanol flexifuel vehicles.


Biodiesel

The main benefit of Diesel combustion engines is that they have a 44% fuel burn efficiency; compared with just 25–30% in the best gasoline engines. In addition diesel fuel has slightly higher energy density by volume than gasoline. This makes Diesel engines capable of achieving much better fuel economy than gasoline vehicles.
Biodiesel Biodiesel is a form of diesel fuel derived from plants or animals and consisting of long-chain fatty acid esters. It is typically made by chemically reacting lipids such as animal fat ( tallow), soybean oil, or some other vegetable oil ...
(fatty acid methyl ester), is commercially available in most oilseed-producing states in the United States. As of 2005, it is somewhat more expensive than fossil diesel, though it is still commonly produced in relatively small quantities (in comparison to petroleum products and ethanol). Many farmers who raise oilseeds use a biodiesel blend in tractors and equipment as a matter of policy, to foster production of biodiesel and raise public awareness. It is sometimes easier to find biodiesel in rural areas than in cities. Biodiesel has lower energy density than fossil diesel fuel, so biodiesel vehicles are not quite able to keep up with the fuel economy of a fossil fuelled diesel vehicle, if the diesel injection system is not reset for the new fuel. If the injection timing is changed to take account of the higher cetane value of biodiesel, the difference in economy is negligible. Because biodiesel contains more oxygen than diesel or
vegetable oil fuel Vegetable oil can be used as an alternative fuel in diesel engines and in heating oil burners. When vegetable oil is used directly as a fuel, in either modified or unmodified equipment, it is referred to as straight vegetable oil (SVO) or pure pl ...
, it produces the lowest emissions from diesel engines, and is lower in most emissions than gasoline engines. Biodiesel has a higher lubricity than mineral diesel and is an additive in European pump diesel for lubricity and emissions reduction. Some Diesel-powered cars can run with minor modifications on 100% pure
vegetable oil Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are oils extracted from seeds or from other parts of fruits. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are ''mixtures'' of triglycerides. Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of seed oils, or f ...
s. Vegetable oils tend to thicken (or solidify if it is waste cooking oil), in cold weather conditions so vehicle modifications (a two tank system with diesel start/stop tank), are essential in order to heat the fuel prior to use under most circumstances. Heating to the temperature of engine coolant reduces fuel viscosity, to the range cited by injection system manufacturers, for systems prior to 'common rail' or 'unit injection ( VW PD)' systems. Waste vegetable oil, especially if it has been used for a long time, may become hydrogenated and have increased acidity. This can cause the thickening of fuel, gumming in the engine and acid damage of the fuel system. Biodiesel does not have this problem, because it is chemically processed to be PH neutral and lower viscosity. Modern low emission diesels (most often Euro -3 and -4 compliant), typical of the current production in the European industry, would require extensive modification of injector system, pumps and seals etc. due to the higher operating pressures, that are designed thinner (heated) mineral diesel than ever before, for atomisation, if they were to use pure vegetable oil as fuel. Vegetable oil fuel is not suitable for these vehicles as they are currently produced. This reduces the market as increasing numbers of new vehicles are not able to use it. However, the German Elsbett company has successfully produced single tank vegetable oil fuel systems for several decades, and has worked with Volkswagen on their TDI engines. This shows that it is technologically possible to use vegetable oil as a fuel in high efficiency / low emission diesel engines. Greasestock is an event held yearly in
Yorktown Heights, New York Yorktown Heights is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Yorktown in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 1,781 at the 2010 census. History Yorktown Heights is in the town of Yorktown, New York, in northern ...
, and is one of the largest showcases of vehicles using waste oil as a biofuel in the United States.


Biogas

Compressed biogas may be used for internal combustion engines after purification of the raw gas. The removal of H2O, H2S and particles can be seen as standard producing a gas which has the same quality as compressed natural gas. The use of biogas is particularly interesting for climates where the waste heat of a biogas powered power plant cannot be used during the summer.


Charcoal

In the 1930s Tang Zhongming made an invention using abundant charcoal resources for Chinese auto market. The charcoal-fuelled car was later used intensively in China, serving the army and conveyancer after the breakout of World War II.


Compressed natural gas

High-pressure
compressed natural gas Compressed natural gas (CNG) is a fuel gas mainly composed of methane (CH4), compressed to less than 1% of the volume it occupies at standard atmospheric pressure. It is stored and distributed in hard containers at a pressure of , usually in cy ...
(CNG), mainly composed of methane, that is used to fuel normal combustion engines instead of gasoline. Combustion of methane produces the least amount of CO2 of all fossil fuels. Gasoline cars can be retrofitted to CNG and become bifuel Natural gas vehicles (NGVs) as the gasoline tank is kept. The driver can switch between CNG and gasoline during operation. Natural gas vehicles (NGVs) are popular in regions or countries where natural gas is abundant. Widespread use began in the Po River Valley of
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
, and later became very popular in
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
by the eighties, though its use has declined. , there were 17.8 million natural gas vehicles worldwide, led by Iran with 3.30 million, followed by Pakistan (2.79 million), Argentina (2.29 million), Brazil (1.75 million), China (1.58 million) and India (1.5 million). As of 2010, the Asia-Pacific region led the global market with a share of 54%. ''Click on Ranked by number.'' In Europe they are popular in Italy (730,000), Ukraine (200,000), Armenia (101,352), Russia (100,000) and Germany (91,500), and they are becoming more so as various manufacturers produce factory made cars, buses, vans and heavy vehicles. In the United States CNG powered buses are the favorite choice of several
public transit Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typic ...
agencies, with an estimated CNG bus fleet of some 130,000. Other countries where CNG-powered buses are popular include India, Australia, Argentina, and Germany. CNG vehicles are common in South America, where these vehicles are mainly used as
taxicab A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choi ...
s in main cities of Argentina and Brazil. Normally, standard gasoline vehicles are retrofitted in specialized shops, which involve installing the gas cylinder in the trunk and the CNG injection system and electronics. The Brazilian GNV fleet is concentrated in the cities of
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...
and
São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...
. Pike Research reports that almost 90% of NGVs in Latin America have bi-fuel engines, allowing these vehicles to run on either gasoline or CNG. In 2006 the Brazilian subsidiary of FIAT introduced the Fiat Siena Tetra fuel, a four-fuel car developed under
Magneti Marelli Magneti Marelli S.p.A. () is an Italian developer and manufacturer of components for the automotive industry. The firm is headquartered in Corbetta, Italy, and includes 86 manufacturing plants, 12 R&D centres, and 26 application centers in 19 c ...
of Fiat Brazil. This automobile can run on 100% ethanol ( E100), E25 (Brazil's normal ethanol gasoline blend), pure gasoline (not available in Brazil), and natural gas, and switches from the gasoline-ethanol blend to CNG automatically, depending on the power required by road conditions. Other existing option is to
retrofit Retrofitting is the addition of new technology or features to older systems. Retrofits can happen for a number of reasons, for example with big capital expenditures like naval vessels, military equipment or manufacturing plants, businesses or go ...
an ethanol
flexible-fuel vehicle A flexible-fuel vehicle (FFV) or dual-fuel vehicle (colloquially called a flex-fuel vehicle) is an alternative fuel vehicle with an internal combustion engine designed to run on more than one fuel, usually gasoline blended with either ethanol fu ...
to add a natural gas tank and the corresponding injection system. Some
taxicab A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choi ...
s in
São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...
and
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...
, Brazil, run on this option, allowing the user to choose among three fuels (E25, E100 and CNG) according to current market prices at the pump. Vehicles with this adaptation are known in Brazil as "tri-fuel" cars. HCNG or hydrogen enriched compressed natural gas for automobile use is premixed at the
hydrogen station A hydrogen station is a storage or filling station for Hydrogen. The hydrogen is dispensed by weight. There are two filling pressures in common use. H70 or 700 bar, and the older standard H35 or 350 bar. As of 2021 around 550 filling stations were ...
.


Liquefied natural gas

Liquefied natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the vol ...
(LNG) is natural gas that has been cooled to a point at which it becomes a cryogenic liquid. In this liquid state, natural gas is more than 2 times as dense as highly compressed CNG. LNG fuel systems function on any vehicle capable of burning natural gas. Unlike CNG, which is stored at high pressure (typically 3000 or 3600 psi) and then regulated to a lower pressure that the engine can accept, LNG is stored at low pressure (50 to 150 psi) and simply vaporized by a heat exchanger before entering the fuel metering devices to the engine. Because of its high energy density compared to CNG, it is very suitable for those interested in long ranges while running on natural gas. In the United States, the LNG supply chain is the main thing that has held back this fuel source from growing rapidly. The LNG supply chain is very analogous to that of diesel or gasoline. First, pipeline natural gas is liquefied in large quantities, which is analogous to refining gasoline or diesel. Then, the LNG is transported via semi trailer to fuel stations where it is stored in bulk tanks until it is dispensed into a vehicle. CNG, on the other hand, requires expensive compression at each station to fill the high-pressure cylinder cascades.


Autogas

LPG or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is a low pressure liquefied gas mixture composed mainly of propane and butane which burns in conventional gasoline combustion engines with less CO2 than gasoline. Gasoline cars can be retrofitted to LPG aka Autogas and become bifuel vehicles as the gasoline tank is not removed, allowing drivers to switch between LPG and gasoline during operation. Estimated 10 million vehicles running worldwide. There are 17.473 million LPG powered vehicles worldwide as of December 2010, and the leading countries are Turkey (2.394 million vehicles), Poland (2.325 million), and South Korea (2.3 million). See table: Largest autogas markets, 2010 In the U.S., 190,000 on-road vehicles use propane, and 450,000 forklifts use it for power. Whereas it is banned in Pakistan (DEC 2013) as it is considered a risk to public safety by OGRA. Hyundai Motor Company began sales of the Elantra LPI Hybrid in the
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...
n domestic market in July 2009. The Elantra LPI (Liquefied Petroleum Injected) is the world's first hybrid electric vehicle to be powered by an internal combustion engine built to run on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as a fuel.


Formic acid

Formic acid is used by converting it first to hydrogen, and using that in a hydrogen fuel cell. It can also be used directly in
formic acid fuel cell Formic acid fuel cells (direct formic acid fuel cells or DFAFCs) are a subcategory of direct liquid-feed fuel cells (DLFCs), in which the liquid fuel is directly oxidized (electrochemically) at the anode instead of reforming to produce hydrogen. For ...
s. Formic acid is much easier to store than hydrogen.


Hydrogen

A
hydrogen Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic ...
car is an automobile which uses hydrogen as its primary source of power for locomotion. These cars generally use the hydrogen in one of two methods: combustion or fuel-cell conversion. In combustion, the hydrogen is "burned" in engines in fundamentally the same method as traditional gasoline cars. In fuel-cell conversion, the hydrogen is turned into electricity through fuel cells which then powers electric motors. With either method, the only byproduct from the spent hydrogen is water, however during combustion with air NOx can be produced.
Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...
introduced its fuel cell vehicle in 1999 called the FCX and have since then introduced the second generation FCX Clarity. Limited marketing of the FCX Clarity, based on the 2007 concept model, began in June 2008 in the United States, and it was introduced in Japan in November 2008. The FCX Clarity was available in the U.S. only in Los Angeles Area, where 16 hydrogen filling stations are available, and until July 2009, only 10 drivers have leased the Clarity for US$600 a month. At the 2012 World Hydrogen Energy Conference, Daimler AG, Honda, Hyundai and Toyota all confirmed plans to produce hydrogen fuel cell vehicles for sale by 2015, with some types planned to enter the showroom in 2013. From 2008 to 2014, Honda leased a total of 45 FCX units in the US. A small number of prototype hydrogen cars currently exist, and a significant amount of research is underway to make the technology more viable. The common
internal combustion engine An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal c ...
, usually fueled with gasoline (petrol) or diesel liquids, can be converted to run on gaseous hydrogen. However, the most efficient use of hydrogen involves the use of fuel cells and
electric motor An electric motor is an electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a wire winding to generate for ...
s instead of a traditional engine. Hydrogen reacts with
oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as ...
inside the fuel cells, which produces electricity to power the motors. One primary area of research is hydrogen storage, to try to increase the range of hydrogen vehicles while reducing the weight, energy consumption, and complexity of the storage systems. Two primary methods of storage are metal hydrides and compression. Some believe that hydrogen cars will never be economically viable and that the emphasis on this technology is a diversion from the development and popularization of more efficient hybrid cars and other alternative technologies. A study by
The Carbon Trust The Carbon Trust was developed and launched in 1999-2001 as part of the development of the Climate Change Levy (CCL), a tax on business energy use that still operates today. The Carbon Trust was originally funded by around £50m of tax revenue ge ...
for the UK
Department of Energy and Climate Change The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom created on 3 October 2008, by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to take over some of the functions related to energy of the Department for Busin ...
suggests that hydrogen technologies have the potential to deliver UK transport with near-zero emissions whilst reducing dependence on imported oil and curtailment of renewable generation. However, the technologies face very difficult challenges, in terms of cost, performance and policy.
Bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
es,
trains In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often know ...
, PHB bicycles, canal boats,
cargo bikes A cargo bike (also known as a box bike, carrier cycle, freight bicycle, cycletruck, or freight tricycle) is a human powered vehicle designed and constructed specifically for transporting loads. Cargo bike designs include a cargo area consisting o ...
,
golf cart A golf cart (alternatively known as a golf buggy or golf car) is a small motorized vehicle designed originally to carry two golfers and their golf clubs around a golf course with less effort than walking. Over time, variants were introduced ...
s,
motorcycles A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...
,
wheelchairs A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries (paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebral pa ...
, ships, airplanes, submarines, and
rocket A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...
s can already run on hydrogen, in various forms.
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...
used hydrogen to launch
Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program ...
s into space. A working toy model car runs on
solar power Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovolta ...
, using a
regenerative fuel cell A regenerative fuel cell or reverse fuel cell (RFC) is a fuel cell run in reverse mode, which consumes electricity and chemical B to produce chemical A. By definition, the process of any fuel cell could be reversed. However, a given device is usuall ...
to store energy in the form of hydrogen and
oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as ...
gas. It can then convert the fuel back into water to release the solar energy. BMW's Clean Energy internal combustion hydrogen car has more power and is faster than hydrogen fuel cell electric cars. A limited series production of the 7 Series Saloon was announced as commencing at the end of 2006. A BMW hydrogen prototype (H2R) using the driveline of this model broke the speed record for hydrogen cars at 300 km/h (186 mi/h), making automotive history. Mazda has developed Wankel engines to burn hydrogen. The Wankel uses a rotary principle of operation, so the hydrogen burns in a different part of the engine from the intake. This reduces pre-detonation, a problem with hydrogen fueled piston engines. The other major car companies like Daimler, Chrysler, Honda, Toyota, Ford and General Motors, are investing in hydrogen fuel cells instead. VW, Nissan, and Hyundai/Kia also have fuel cell vehicle prototypes on the road. In addition, transit agencies across the globe are running prototype fuel cell buses.
Fuel cell vehicle A fuel cell vehicle (FCV) or fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) is an electric vehicle that uses a fuel cell, sometimes in combination with a small battery or supercapacitor, to power its onboard electric motor. Fuel cells in vehicles generate e ...
s, such as the new Honda Clarity, can get up to on a kilogram of hydrogen. The
Hyundai ix35 FCEV The Hyundai ix35 FCEV or Tucson FCEV is a hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle developed by Hyundai. The model is a left-hand drive only conversion to the SUV platform it is based on and was the first of its type to be mass-produced and sold comme ...
fuel cell vehicle is available for lease in the U.S. In 2014, a total of 54 units were leased. Sales of the Toyota Mirai to government and corporate customers began in Japan on December 15, 2014. Toyota delivered the first market placed Mirai to the Prime Minister's Official Residence and announced it got 1,500 orders in Japan in one month after sales began against a sales target of 400 for 12 months. Deliveries to retail customers began in California in October 2015. A total of 57 units were delivered between October and November 2015. Toyota scheduled to release the Mirai in the Northeastern States in the first half of 2016. The market launch in Europe is slated for September 2015.


Liquid nitrogen car

Liquid nitrogen (LN2) is a method of storing energy. Energy is used to liquefy air, and then LN2 is produced by evaporation, and distributed. LN2 is exposed to ambient heat in the car and the resulting nitrogen gas can be used to power a piston or turbine engine. The maximum amount of energy that can be extracted from LN2 is 213 Watt-hours per kg (W·h/kg) or 173 W·h per liter, in which a maximum of 70 W·h/kg can be utilized with an isothermal expansion process. Such a vehicle with a 350-liter (93 gallon) tank can achieve ranges similar to a gasoline powered vehicle with a 50-liter (13 gallon) tank. Theoretical future engines, using cascading topping cycles, can improve this to around 110 W·h/kg with a quasi-isothermal expansion process. The advantages are zero harmful emissions and superior energy densities compared to a compressed-air vehicle as well as being able to refill the tank in a matter of minutes.


Nuclear power

In principle, it is possible to build a vehicle powered by nuclear fission or nuclear decay. However, there are two major problems: first one has to transform the energy, which comes as heat and radiation into energy usable for a drive. One possible would be to use a steam turbine as in a nuclear power plant, but such a device would take too much space. A more suitable way would be direct conversion into electricity for example with thermoelements or thermionic devices. The second problem is that nuclear fission produces high levels of neutron and gamma rays, which require excessive shielding, that would result in a vehicle too large for use on public roads. However studies were made in this way by
Ford Nucleon The Ford Nucleon is a concept car developed by Ford in 1957, designed as a future nuclear-powered car—one of a handful of such designs during the 1950s and 1960s. The concept was only demonstrated as a scale model. The design did not include ...
. A better way for a nuclear powered vehicle would be the use of power of radioactive decay in radioisotope thermoelectric generators, which are also very safe and reliable. The required shielding of these devices depends on the used radio nuclide. Plutonium-238 as nearly pure alpha radiator does not require much shielding. As prices for suitable radionuclide are high and energy density is low (generating 1 watt with Plutonium-238 requires a half gram of it), this way of propulsion is too expensive for wide use. Also radioisotope thermoelectric generators offer according to their large content of high radioactive material an extreme danger in case of misuse for example by terrorists. The only vehicle in use, which is driven by radioisotope thermoelectric generators is the Mars rover
Curiosity Curiosity (from Latin '' cūriōsitās'', from ''cūriōsus'' "careful, diligent, curious", akin to ''cura'' "care") is a quality related to inquisitive thinking such as exploration, investigation, and learning, evident by observation in humans ...
. Other forms of nuclear power as fusion and annihilation are at present not available for vehicle propulsion, as no working fusion reactor is available and it is questionable if one can ever built one with a size suitable for a road vehicle. Annihilation may perhaps work in some ways (see antimatter drive), but there is no technology existing to produce and store enough antimatter.


Flywheels

Flywheels can be also used for alternative fuel and were used in the 1950s for the propulsion of buses in Switzerland, the such called gyrobuses. The flywheel of the bus was loaded up by electric power at the terminals of the line and allowed it to travel a way up to 8 kilometres just with its flywheel. Flywheel-powered vehicles are quieter than vehicles with combustion engine, require no overhead wire and generate no exhausts, but the flywheel device has a great weight (1.5 tons for 5 kWh) and requires special safety measures due to its high rotational speed.


Silanes

Silanes Silanes refers to diverse kinds of charge-neutral silicon compounds with the formula . The R substituents can any combination of organic or inorganic groups. Most silanes contain Si-C bonds, and are discussed under organosilicon compounds. Examp ...
higher than heptasilane can be stored like gasoline and may also work as fuel. They have the advantage that they can also burn with the nitrogen of the air, but have as major disadvantage its high price and that its combustion products are solid, which gives trouble in combustion engines.


Spring

The power of wound-up springs or twisted rubber cords can be used for the propulsion of small vehicles. However this way of energy storage allows only saving small energy amounts not suitable for the propulsion of vehicles for transporting people. Spring-powered vehicles are
wind-up toy A wind-up toy is an automaton toy powered by a clockwork motor. Background Automata built for the sake of art, amusement, and simulation have been described since antiquity, in cases such as Heron of Alexandria designing clockwork birds durin ...
s or
mousetrap car A mousetrap car is a small vehicle whose only source of motive power is a mousetrap. Variations include the use of multiple traps, or very big rat traps, for added power. Mousetrap cars are often used in physics or other physical science classe ...
s.


Steam

A steam car is a car that has a steam engine. Wood, coal,
ethanol Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl group linked to a ...
, or others can be used as fuel. The fuel is burned in a
boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, centr ...
and the heat converts water into steam. When the water turns to steam, it expands. The expansion creates
pressure Pressure (symbol: ''p'' or ''P'') is the force applied perpendicular to the surface of an object per unit area over which that force is distributed. Gauge pressure (also spelled ''gage'' pressure)The preferred spelling varies by country and e ...
. The pressure pushes the pistons back and forth. This turns the
driveshaft A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power and torque and rotation, usually used to connec ...
to spin the wheels which provides moves the car forward. It works like a coal-fueled
steam train A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...
, or steam boat. The steam car was the next logical step in independent transport. Steam cars take a long time to start, but some can reach speeds over 100 mph (161 km/h) eventually. The late model Doble steam cars could be brought to operational condition in less than 30 seconds, had high top speeds and fast acceleration, but were expensive to buy. A steam engine uses
external combustion An external combustion engine (EC engine) is a reciprocating heat engine where a working fluid, contained internally, is heated by combustion in an external source, through the engine wall or a heat exchanger. The fluid then, by expanding and ...
, as opposed to internal combustion. Gasoline-powered cars are more efficient at about 25–28% efficiency. In theory, a combined cycle steam engine in which the burning material is first used to drive a
gas turbine A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the directio ...
can produce 50% to 60% efficiency. However, practical examples of steam engined cars work at only around 5–8% efficiency. The best known and best selling steam-powered car was the
Stanley Steamer The Stanley Motor Carriage Company was an American manufacturer of steam cars; it operated from 1902 to 1924. The cars made by the company were colloquially called Stanley Steamers, although several different models were produced. Early history ...
. It used a compact fire-tube boiler under the hood to power a simple two-piston engine which was connected directly to the rear axle. Before
Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that ...
introduced monthly payment financing with great success, cars were typically purchased outright. This is why the Stanley was kept simple; to keep the purchase price affordable. Steam produced in
refrigeration The term refrigeration refers to the process of removing heat from an enclosed space or substance for the purpose of lowering the temperature.International Dictionary of Refrigeration, http://dictionary.iifiir.org/search.phpASHRAE Terminology, ht ...
also can be use by a
turbine A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced by a turbine can be used for generating ...
in other vehicle types to produce electricity, that can be employed in electric motors or stored in a battery. Steam power can be combined with a standard oil-based engine to create a hybrid. Water is injected into the cylinder after the fuel is burned, when the piston is still superheated, often at temperatures of 1500 degrees or more. The water will instantly be vaporized into steam, taking advantage of the heat that would otherwise be wasted.


Wind

Wind-powered vehicles have been well-known for a long time. They can be realized with sails similar to those used on ships, by using an onboard wind turbine, which drives the wheels directly or which generates electricity for an electric motor, or can be pulled by a kite. Wind-powered land vehicles need an enormous clearance in height, especially when sails or kites are used and are unsuitable in urban area. They may be also be difficult to steer. Wind-powered vehicles are only used for recreational activities on beaches or other free areas. The concept is described in further detail here


Wood gas

Wood gas Wood gas is a fuel gas that can be used for furnaces, stoves, and vehicles. During the production process, biomass or related carbon-containing materials are gasified within the oxygen-limited environment of a wood gas generator to produce a c ...
can be used to power cars with ordinary internal combustion engines if a wood gasifier is attached. This was quite popular during World War II in several European and Asian countries because the war prevented easy and cost-effective access to oil. Herb Hartman of Woodward, Iowa currently drives a wood powered Cadillac. He claims to have attached the gasifier to the Cadillac for just $700. Hartman claims, "A full hopper will go about fifty miles depending on how you drive it," and he added that splitting the wood was "labor-intensive. That's the big drawback."


Multiple fuel source


Dual fuel

Dual fuel vehicle is referred as the vehicle using two types of fuel in the same time (can be gas + liquid, gas + gas, liquid + liquid) with different fuel tank. Diesel-CNG dual fuel is a system using two type of fuel which are diesel and compressed natural gas (CNG) at the same time. It is because of CNG need a source of ignition for combustion in diesel engine.


Flexible fuel

A
flexible-fuel vehicle A flexible-fuel vehicle (FFV) or dual-fuel vehicle (colloquially called a flex-fuel vehicle) is an alternative fuel vehicle with an internal combustion engine designed to run on more than one fuel, usually gasoline blended with either ethanol fu ...
(FFV) or dual-fuel vehicle (DFF) is an alternative fuel automobile or light duty truck with a
multifuel Multifuel, sometimes spelled multi-fuel, is any type of engine, boiler, or heater or other fuel-burning device which is designed to burn multiple types of fuels in its operation. One common application of multifuel technology is in military s ...
engine that can use more than one fuel, usually mixed in the same tank, and the blend is burned in the
combustion chamber A combustion chamber is part of an internal combustion engine in which the fuel/air mix is burned. For steam engines, the term has also been used for an extension of the firebox which is used to allow a more complete combustion process. Intern ...
together. These vehicles are
colloquial Colloquialism (), also called colloquial language, everyday language or general parlance, is the style (sociolinguistics), linguistic style used for casual (informal) communication. It is the most common functional style of speech, the idiom norm ...
ly called flex-fuel, or flexifuel in Europe, or just flex in Brazil. FFVs are distinguished from bi-fuel vehicles, where two fuels are stored in separate tanks. The most common commercially available FFV in the world market is the
ethanol Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl group linked to a ...
flexible-fuel vehicle A flexible-fuel vehicle (FFV) or dual-fuel vehicle (colloquially called a flex-fuel vehicle) is an alternative fuel vehicle with an internal combustion engine designed to run on more than one fuel, usually gasoline blended with either ethanol fu ...
, with the major markets concentrated in the United States, Brazil, Sweden, and some other European countries. In addition to flex-fuel vehicles running with
ethanol Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl group linked to a ...
, in the US and Europe there were successful test programs with methanol flex-fuel vehicles, known as M85 FFVs, and more recently there have been also successful tests using
p-series fuels P-series fuels are a family of renewable, non-petroleum, liquid fuels that can substitute for gasoline. The blend of methyl tetrahydrofuran (MTHF), ethanol, and hydrocarbon In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisti ...
with E85 flex fuel vehicles, but as of June 2008, this fuel is not yet available to the general public. Ethanol flexible-fuel vehicles have standard gasoline engines that are capable of running with
ethanol Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl group linked to a ...
and gasoline mixed in the same tank. These mixtures have "E" numbers which describe the percentage of ethanol in the mixture, for example, E85 is 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. (See common ethanol fuel mixtures for more information.) Though technology exists to allow ethanol FFVs to run on any mixture up to E100, in the U.S. and Europe, flex-fuel vehicles are optimized to run on
E85 E85 is an abbreviation typically referring to an ethanol fuel blend of 85% ethanol fuel and 15% gasoline or other hydrocarbon by volume. In the United States, the exact ratio of fuel ethanol to hydrocarbon may vary according to ASTM 5798 that ...
. This limit is set to avoid cold starting problems during very cold weather. The alcohol content might be reduced during the winter, to E70 in the U.S. or to E75 in Sweden. Brazil, with a warmer climate, developed vehicles that can run on any mix up to E100, though E20-E25 is the mandatory minimum blend, and no pure gasoline is sold in the country. About 48 million automobiles, motorcycles and light duty trucks manufactured and sold worldwide by mid 2015, and concentrated in four markets, Brazil (29.5 million by mid 2015), the United States (17.4 million by the end of 2014), Canada (1.6 million by 2014), and Sweden (243,100 through December 2014). ''As of September 2013, see Graph "Bought flexifuel vehicles"'' ''Download file "Definitiva nyregistreringar 2012" see table: "Nyregistrerade miljöbilar per typ december 2012" with summary of E85 passenger car registrations for 2012 and 2011'' ''Download file "Nyregistreringar december 2014 (prel)" see table: "Nyregistrerade miljöbilar per typ december 2014" with summary of E85 passenger car registrations for 2014 and 2013'' The Brazilian flex fuel fleet includes over 4 million flexible-fuel motorcycles produced since 2009 through March 2015. In Brazil, 65% of flex-fuel car owners were using ethanol fuel regularly in 2009, while, the actual number of American FFVs being run on
E85 E85 is an abbreviation typically referring to an ethanol fuel blend of 85% ethanol fuel and 15% gasoline or other hydrocarbon by volume. In the United States, the exact ratio of fuel ethanol to hydrocarbon may vary according to ASTM 5798 that ...
is much lower; surveys conducted in the U.S. have found that 68% of American flex-fuel car owners were not aware they owned an E85 flex. This is thought to be due to a number of factors, including: *The appearance of flex-fuel and non-flex-fuel vehicles is identical; *There is no price difference between a pure-gasoline vehicle and its flex-fuel variant; *The lack of consumer awareness of flex-fuel vehicles; *The lack of promotion of flex-fuel vehicles by American automakers, who often do not label the cars or market them in the same way they do to hybrid cars By contrast, automakers selling FFVs in Brazil commonly affix badges advertising the car as a flex-fuel vehicle. As of 2007, new FFV models sold in the U.S. were required to feature a yellow gas cap emblazoned with the label "E85/gasoline", in order to remind drivers of the cars' flex-fuel capabilities. Use of E85 in the U.S. is also affected by the relatively low number of E85 filling stations in operation across the country, with just over 1,750 in August 2008, most of which are concentrated in the
Corn Belt The Corn Belt is a region of the Midwestern United States that, since the 1850s, has dominated corn production in the United States. In the United States, ''corn'' is the common word for maize. More generally, the concept of the Corn Belt con ...
states, led by
Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
with 353 stations, followed by
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...
with 181, and
Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
with 114. ''For a complete and updated listing, go to www.e85refueling.com'' By comparison, there are some 120,000 stations providing regular non-ethanol gasoline in the United States alone. There have been claims that American automakers are motivated to produce flex-fuel vehicles due to a
loophole A loophole is an ambiguity or inadequacy in a system, such as a law or security, which can be used to circumvent or otherwise avoid the purpose, implied or explicitly stated, of the system. Originally, the word meant an arrowslit, a narrow ver ...
in the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) requirements, which gives the automaker a "fuel economy credit" for every flex-fuel vehicle sold, whether or not the vehicle is actually fueled with E85 in regular use. This loophole allegedly allows the U.S. auto industry to meet CAFE fuel economy targets not by developing more fuel-efficient models, but by spending between US$100 and US$200 extra per vehicle to produce a certain number of flex-fuel models, enabling them to continue selling less fuel-efficient vehicles such as
SUVs A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive. There is no commonly agreed-upon definitio ...
, which netted higher profit margins than smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. In the United States,
E85 E85 is an abbreviation typically referring to an ethanol fuel blend of 85% ethanol fuel and 15% gasoline or other hydrocarbon by volume. In the United States, the exact ratio of fuel ethanol to hydrocarbon may vary according to ASTM 5798 that ...
FFVs are equipped with sensor that automatically detect the fuel mixture, signaling the ECU to tune spark timing and fuel injection so that fuel will burn cleanly in the vehicle's internal combustion engine. Originally, the sensors were mounted in the fuel line and exhaust system; more recent models do away with the fuel line sensor. Another feature of older flex-fuel cars is a small separate gasoline storage tank that was used for starting the car on cold days, when the ethanol mixture made ignition more difficult. Modern
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
ian flex-fuel technology enables FFVs to run an any blend between E20-E25 gasohol and E100 ethanol fuel, using a
lambda probe An oxygen sensor (or lambda sensor, where lambda refers to air–fuel equivalence ratio, usually denoted by λ) or probe or sond, is an electronic device that measures the proportion of oxygen (O2) in the gas or liquid being analysed. It was d ...
to measure the quality of combustion, which informs the engine control unit as to the exact composition of the gasoline-alcohol mixture. This technology, developed by the Brazilian subsidiary of Bosch in 1994, and further improved and commercially implemented in 2003 by the Italian subsidiary of
Magneti Marelli Magneti Marelli S.p.A. () is an Italian developer and manufacturer of components for the automotive industry. The firm is headquartered in Corbetta, Italy, and includes 86 manufacturing plants, 12 R&D centres, and 26 application centers in 19 c ...
, is known as " Software Fuel Sensor". The Brazilian subsidiary of
Delphi Automotive Systems Aptiv PLC is an Irish-American automotive technology supplier with headquarters in Dublin. Aptiv grew out of the now-defunct American company, Delphi Automotive Systems, which itself was formerly a component of General Motors. History The com ...
developed a similar technology, known as "
Multifuel Multifuel, sometimes spelled multi-fuel, is any type of engine, boiler, or heater or other fuel-burning device which is designed to burn multiple types of fuels in its operation. One common application of multifuel technology is in military s ...
", based on research conducted at its facility in Piracicaba,
São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...
. Print edition No. 1941 This technology allows the controller to regulate the amount of fuel injected and spark time, as fuel flow needs to be decreased to avoid
detonation Detonation () is a type of combustion involving a supersonic exothermic front accelerating through a medium that eventually drives a shock front propagating directly in front of it. Detonations propagate supersonically through shock waves with s ...
due to the high compression ratio (around 12:1) used by flex-fuel engines. The first flex motorcycle was launched by
Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...
in March 2009. Produced by its Brazilian subsidiary Moto Honda da Amazônia, the
CG 150 Titan Mix CG, Cg or cg may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Chaotic Good, an alignment in the role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'' * Classical guitar, a type of guitar Businesses and organizations Businesses *Central of Georgia Railway, between M ...
is sold for around US$2,700. Because the motorcycle does not have a secondary gas tank for a cold start like the Brazilian flex cars do, the tank must have at least 20% of gasoline to avoid start up problems at temperatures below 15 °C (59 °F). The motorcycle's panel includes a gauge to warn the driver about the actual ethanol-gasoline mix in the storage tank.


Hybrids


Hybrid electric vehicle

A hybrid vehicle uses multiple propulsion systems to provide motive power. The most common type of hybrid vehicle is the gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles, which use gasoline (petrol) and electric batteries for the energy used to power
internal-combustion engine An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal combust ...
s (ICEs) and electric motors. These motors are usually relatively small and would be considered "underpowered" by themselves, but they can provide a normal driving experience when used in combination during acceleration and other maneuvers that require greater power. The Toyota Prius first went on sale in Japan in 1997 and it is sold worldwide since 2000. By 2017 the Prius is sold in more than 90 countries and regions, with Japan and the United States as its largest markets. In May 2008, global cumulative Prius sales reached the 1 million units, and by September 2010, the Prius reached worldwide cumulative sales of 2 million units, and 3 million units by June 2013. , global hybrid sales are led by the Prius family, with cumulative sales of 6.0361 million units, excluding its plug-in hybrid variant. The Toyota Prius liftback is the leading model of the Toyota brand with cumulative sales of 3.985 million units, followed by the Toyota Aqua/Prius c, with global sales of 1.380 million units, the Prius v/α/+ with 671,200, the Camry Hybrid with 614,700 units, the
Toyota Auris The is a compact car derived from the Corolla, manufactured and sold by Toyota. Introduced in 2006, the first generation three/five-door hatchback shared the platform with the E150 series Corolla, while the second generation five-door hatchba ...
with 378,000 units, and the Toyota Yaris Hybrid with 302,700. The best-selling
Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked among the 10 largest Japanese ...
model is the Lexus RX 400h/RX 450h with global sales of 363,000 units. The
Honda Insight The is a hybrid electric vehicle that is manufactured and marketed by Honda. Its first generation was a two-door, two passenger liftback (1999–2006) and in its second generation was a four-door, five passenger liftback (2009–2014). In its ...
is a two-seater hatchback hybrid automobile manufactured by Honda. It was the first mass-produced hybrid automobile sold in the United States, introduced in 1999, and produced until 2006. Honda introduced the second-generation Insight in Japan in February 2009, and the new Insight went on sale in the United States on April 22, 2009. Honda also offers the
Honda Civic Hybrid The is a series of automobiles manufactured by Honda since 1972. Since 2000, the Civic has been categorized as a compact car, while previously it occupied the subcompact class. , the Civic is positioned between the Honda Fit/City and Honda Ac ...
since 2002. , there are over 50 models of hybrid electric cars available in several world markets, with more than 12 million hybrid electric vehicles sold worldwide since their inception in 1997. , Japan ranked as the market leader with more than 5 million hybrids sold, followed by the United States with cumulative sales of over 4 million units since 1999, and Europe with about 1.5 million hybrids delivered since 2000. Japan has the world's highest hybrid market penetration. By 2013 the hybrid market share accounted for more than 30% of new standard passenger car sold, and about 20% new passenger vehicle sales including kei cars. The Netherlands ranks second with a hybrid market share of 4.5% of new car sales in 2012. ''See Figure 1.3, pp 6. See also tables in pp. 88–110 for HEV market by country from 2001 to 2012.'' , global sales are by Toyota Motor Company with more than 10 million
Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked among the 10 largest Japanese ...
and Toyota hybrids sold, followed by
Honda Motor Co., Ltd. is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...
with cumulative global sales of more than 1.35 million hybrids ; ''Honda sold 187,851 hybrids in 2013''. ''Honda sold 158,696 hybrids during the first six months of 2014''. Ford Motor Corporation with over 424 thousand hybrids sold in the United States through June 2015, of which, around 10% are plug-in hybrids; ''By June 2012 Ford had sold 200,000 full hybrids in the US since 2004.'' ''See the section: December 2012 Hybrid Cars Numbers. A total of 434,498 hybrid electric vehicles were sold during 2012. Ford sold 32,543 hybrids in the U.S. during 2012, including 14,100 Ford Fusion Hybrids, 10,935 C-Max Hybrids, 6,067 Lincoln MKZ Hybrids, and 1,441 Ford Escape Hybrids.'' Hyundai Group with cumulative global sales of 200 thousand hybrids , including both Hyundai Motors and
Kia Motors Kia Corporation, commonly known as Kia (, ; formerly known as Kyungsung Precision Industry and Kia Motors Corporation), is a South Korean multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It is South Korea's second lar ...
hybrid models; and
PSA Peugeot Citroën The PSA Group (), legally known as Peugeot S.A. (Peugeot Société Anonyme, trading as Groupe PSA; formerly known as PSA Peugeot Citroën from 1991 to 2016) was a French multinational automotive manufacturing company which produced automobiles ...
with over 50,000 diesel-powered hybrids sold in Europe through December 2013. The Elantra LPI Hybrid, launched in the South Korean domestic market in July 2009, is a hybrid vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine built to run on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as a fuel. The Elantra PLI is a mild hybrid and the first hybrid to adopt advanced lithium polymer (Li–Poly) batteries.


Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle

Until 2010 most plug-in hybrids on the road in the U.S. were conversions of conventional hybrid electric vehicles, and the most prominent PHEVs were conversions of 2004 or later Toyota Prius, which have had plug-in charging and more batteries added and their electric-only range extended. Chinese battery manufacturer and automaker
BYD Auto BYD Auto Co., Ltd. ("Build Your Dreams") is the automotive subsidiary of the publicly-listed Chinese multinational manufacturer BYD Company, headquartered in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China. It was founded in January 2003, following BYD Com ...
released the F3DM to the Chinese fleet market in December 2008Crippen, A. (December 15, 2008
"Warren Buffett's Electric Car Hits the Chinese Market, But Rollout Delayed For U.S. & Europe"
''CNBC''. Retrieved December 2008.
Balfour, F. (December 15, 200

''Business Week''. Retrieved December 2008.
and began sales to the general public in
Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...
in March 2010. General Motors began deliveries of the
Chevrolet Volt The Chevrolet Volt is a plug-in hybrid manufactured by General Motors, also marketed in rebadged variants as the Holden Volt in Australia and New Zealand and the Buick Velite 5 in China, and with a different fascia as the Vauxhall Ampera in th ...
in the U.S. in December 2010. Deliveries to retail customers of the
Fisker Karma The Fisker Karma is a luxury plug-in range-extended electric sports sedan produced by Fisker Automotive in 2012. The cars were manufactured at Valmet Automotive in Finland. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rated th ...
began in the U.S. in November 2011. During 2012, the
Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid The Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid (often abbreviated as the Prius and known as the Prius Prime in North America, South Korea, and New Zealand) is a plug-in hybrid liftback manufactured by Toyota. The first-generation model was produced from 2012 t ...
,
Ford C-Max Energi The Ford C-Max (stylized as Ford C-MAX and previously called the Ford Focus C-Max) is a car produced by the Ford Motor Company from 2003 to 2019. It has a five-door compact multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) design. The Ford Grand C-Max has a longer wh ...
, and
Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid The Volvo V60 is a compact wagon produced by Volvo Cars related to the S60. The vehicle was first released in autumn 2010, facelifted in 2014, and is in its second generation since 2018. The second generation V60 was launched in 2018 based on t ...
were released. The following models were launched during 2013 and 2015:
Honda Accord Plug-in Hybrid The ninth generation Accord is a mid-size car introduced by Honda in 2012 which received a refreshed front fascia, grill, headlights, tail lights and alloy wheel designs for the 2016 model year. With the discontinuation of the smaller European an ...
,
Mitsubishi Outlander P-HEV The is a mid-size crossover SUV manufactured by Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors. It was originally known as the when it was introduced in Japan in 2001. The original Airtrek name was chosen to "describe the vehicle's ability to transpo ...
,
Ford Fusion Energi The Ford Fusion Hybrid is a gasoline-electric hybrid powered version of the mid-sized Ford Fusion sedan manufactured and marketed by Ford, now in its second generation. A plug-in hybrid version, the Ford Fusion Energi, was released in the U.S. ...
,
McLaren P1 The McLaren P1 is a limited-production mid-engine plug-in hybrid sports car produced by British automobile manufacturer McLaren Automotive. Debuted at the 2012 Paris Motor Show, sales of the P1 began in the United Kingdom in October 2013 and all ...
(limited edition),
Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid The Porsche Panamera is a mid/ full-sized luxury car (E-segment/ F-segment in Europe) manufactured and marketed by German automobile manufacturer Porsche across two generations using a front-engine, rear or all-wheel drive configuration. Po ...
,
BYD Qin The BYD Qin (pronounced "Chin") is a compact sedan developed by BYD Auto, available as an all-electric car, as a plug-in hybrid and as an internal combustion engine vehicle. The plug-in hybrid variant (which was the only variant available in t ...
,
Cadillac ELR The Cadillac ELR is a two-door, four-passenger luxury plug-in hybrid compact coupé manufactured and marketed by Cadillac for model years (MY) 2014 and 2016 – with a hiatus for MY 2015. Using a retuned version of the Chevrolet Volt's Voltec E ...
, BMW i3 REx,
BMW i8 The BMW i8 is a plug-in hybrid sports car developed by BMW. The i8 was part of BMW's electrified fleet and was marketed under the BMW i sub-brand. The production version of the BMW i8 was unveiled at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show and was rel ...
,
Porsche 918 Spyder The Porsche 918 Spyder is a limited-production mid-engine plug-in hybrid sports car manufactured by German automobile manufacturer Porsche. The 918 Spyder is powered by a naturally aspirated V8 engine, developing at 8,700RPM, with two electric ...
(limited production), Volkswagen XL1 (limited production), Audi A3 Sportback e-tron, Volkswagen Golf GTE, Mercedes-Benz S 500 e, Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid, Mercedes-Benz C 350 e,
BYD Tang The BYD Tang is a crossover SUV manufactured by BYD Auto, available as an all-electric vehicle, a plug-in hybrid or a conventional ICE vehicle. The vehicle is the second model of BYD's "Dynasty" series passenger vehicles, and gets its name from ...
, Volkswagen Passat GTE,
Volvo XC90 T8 The Volvo XC90 is a mid-size luxury SUV manufactured and marketed by Volvo Cars since 2002 and now in its second generation. The first generation was introduced at the 2002 North American International Auto Show and used the Volvo P2 platfor ...
, BMW X5 xDrive40e, Hyundai Sonata PHEV, and Volvo S60L PHEV. , about 500,000 highway-capable plug-in hybrid electric cars had been sold worldwide since December 2008, out of total cumulative global sales of 1.2 million light-duty
plug-in electric vehicle A plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) is any road vehicle that can utilize an external source of electricity (such as a wall socket that connects to the power grid) to store electrical power within its onboard rechargeable battery packs, which then ...
s. ''About 520,000 highway legal light-duty plug-in electric vehicles were sold worldwide in 2015, with cumulative global sales reaching 1,235,000
Plug-in hybrids represent about 40% of global plug-in electric vehicle sales
''
, the Volt/Ampera family of plug-in hybrids, with combined sales of about 134,500 units is the top selling plug-in hybrid in the world. Ranking next are the
Mitsubishi Outlander P-HEV The is a mid-size crossover SUV manufactured by Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors. It was originally known as the when it was introduced in Japan in 2001. The original Airtrek name was chosen to "describe the vehicle's ability to transpo ...
with about 119,500, and the
Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid The Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid (often abbreviated as the Prius and known as the Prius Prime in North America, South Korea, and New Zealand) is a plug-in hybrid liftback manufactured by Toyota. The first-generation model was produced from 2012 t ...
with almost 78,000.


Pedal-assisted electric hybrid vehicle

In very small vehicles, the power demand decreases, so human power can be employed to make a significant improvement in battery life. Three such commercially made vehicles are the Sinclair C5,
ELF An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes "ligh ...
and
TWIKE The Twike (a portmanteau of the words ''twin'' and ''bike'') is a human-electric hybrid vehicle (HEHV) designed to carry two passengers and cargo. Essentially a velomobile with an electrical hybrid engine, it can be driven in electric-only mode ...
.


Comparative assessment of fossil and alternative fuels

According to a recent comparative energy and environmental analysis of the vehicle fuel end use (petroleum and natural gas derivatives & hydrogen; biofuels like ethanol or biodiesel, and their mixtures; as well as electricity intended to be used in plug-in electric vehicles), the renewable and non-renewable unit energy costs and emission cost are suitable indicators for assessing the renewable energy consumption intensity and the environmental impact, and for quantifying the thermodynamic performance of the transportation sector. This analysis allows ranking the energy conversion processes along the vehicle fuels production routes and their end-use, so that the best options for the transportation sector can be determined and better energy policies may be issued. Thus, if a drastic emissions abatement of the transportation sector is pursued, a more intensive utilization of ethanol in the Brazilian transportation sector mix is advisable. However, as the overall exergy conversion efficiency of the sugar cane industry is still very low, which increases the unit energy cost of ethanol, better production and end-use technologies are required. Nonetheless, with the current scenario of a predominantly renewable Brazilian electricity mix, based on more than 80% of renewable sources, this source consolidates as the most promising energy source to reduce the large amount of greenhouse gas emissions which transportation sector is responsible for.


See also

* Alternative Fuels Training Consortium * Alternatives to the automobile * Bi-fuel vehicle * Butanol fuel * Carbon-neutral fuel * Clean Cities * Engine control unit altering to optimize running on different fuels * Green vehicle * Fuel gas-powered scooter * Hydrogen vehicle * List of hybrid vehicles * Phase-out of fossil fuel vehicles * Renewable energy *
Solar vehicle A solar vehicle or solar electric vehicle is an electric vehicle powered completely or significantly by direct solar energy. Usually, photovoltaic (PV) cells contained in solar panels convert the sun's energy directly into electric energy. T ...
*''
The Hype about Hydrogen ''The Hype About Hydrogen: Fact and Fiction in the Race to Save the Climate'' is a book by Joseph J. Romm, published in 2004 by Island Press and updated in 2005. The book has been translated into German as ''Der Wasserstoff-Boom''. Romm is an ...
'' * Vehicle classification by propulsion system * Water-fuelled car *
Wind-powered vehicle Wind-powered vehicles derive their power from sails, kites or rotors and ride on wheels—which may be linked to a wind-powered rotor—or runners. Whether powered by sail, kite or rotor, these vehicles share a common trait: As the vehicle increa ...


References


External links


Cradle-to-Grave Lifecycle Analysis of U.S. Light-Duty Vehicle-Fuel Pathways: A Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Economic Assessment of Current (2015) and Future (2025–2030) Technologies
(includes estimated cost of avoided GHG emissions from different AFV technologies), Argonne National Laboratory, June 2016.
Official website of the Alternative Fuels Data Center
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy,
United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United Stat ...

Transitions to Alternative Vehicles and Fuels
National Academy of Sciences (2013) {{DEFAULTSORT:Alternative Fuel Vehicle Vehicle technology Green vehicles Emerging technologies Alternative fuels