Future Fueled Automobiles Page 1

Future Fuelled Automobiles . Page 1

In the very near future gasoline and petroleum based diesel fuel will no longer be available . The first steps away from these fuels as a power source for automobiles was the use of Liquid Petroleum Gas , commonly known as ‘Propane‘ and also Natural Gas . These are both low emission fuels and propane can even be manufactured from non petroleum materials , but both these fuels are some what harder to handle than gasoline or diesel fuel . Lower emission Diesel fuel can also be manufactured from non petroleum materials which will make it one very likely future fuel . Many Hybrid automobiles are now on the road . The first Hybrids were electric and gasoline powered , and some are now electric and Diesel powered . As the Hybrids run on batteries part of the time and Gasoline or Diesel Fuel only part of the time , fuel consumption and emissions are lowered greatly . Hybrids are very quiet when they are running in electric mode . As Hybrids are driven on gasoline or diesel fuel the batteries are recharged . It is most common to drive a Hybrid vehicle in electric mode during low speed driving such as city driving . Low speed driving is were the fuel consumption and emissions are the highest . Electric mode burns on gasoline and emissions are zero , so no fuel is burned at the time when a normal vehicle would have the heaviest fuel consumption . Zero emissions helps to lower pollution in the city , were the real pollution problem exists . If gasoline mode is used for higher speed driving such as highway driving . That is were a gasoline or diesel powered vehicle runs at its top efficiency . At these higher speeds the lowest amount of gasoline or diesel fuel is burned and the emissions are at their lowest level . .

The Escape Hybrid sold over 17,000 units in just ½ year in 2004 . It is great and popular as a taxi in some major cities of North America .the escape also uses Fords regenerative brake system to help restore power to the battery when the brakes are applied . This feature allows longer periods of driving in electric mode before the engine is used. North American auto makers have been working for some years and now have vehicles that operate on various other fuels and power sources . Electric automobiles are being designer and tested at the present time but electric automobiles are not really a new idea . Electric powered vehicles were around before internal combustion powered automobiles .

Electric automobiles date back as fare as the mid 1800’s . Companies like Detroit Electric made electric autos from1907 to 1939 . Studebaker built electric automobiles from 1902 until 1912 . But there were many electric automobiles on the roads long before that . The first Hybrid , (electric and gasoline powered) was introduced in Chicago by the Woods Motor Vehicle Company . Some electric vehicles are available now and more will be coming soon . The completely electric vehicles are limited to somewhat shorter travel distance range between recharges , but for city drivers and commuters they should work quite well . These vehicles use no gasoline or diesel fuel at all , but your hydro bill will be noticeably higher . Look for the Chevrolet Volt to come on the market soon . Possibly 2010 . The Volt was an electric automobile that had a range of about 40 miles on just batteries . Then an internal combustion engine and a generator were added to recharge the batteries as the vehicle is being operated . This increased the range to about 360 miles . After that distance the batteries require complete recharging at home . The difference between the Volt and a normal Hybrid is that the Hybrid has a normal power train to propel the vehicle in the non electric mode and then electric motor(s) to propel the vehicle in electric mode . The Volt has no power train to propel it only the electric motor . The internal combustion engine only turns the generator to recharge the batteries . This idea is similar to the diesel electric systems used on locomotives foe many years . Vehicle such as the Volt will work very well for most people living in city’s or short distance commuters and in some applications no gasoline could be used for long periods of time . If you drive less than 40 miles per day (56 km) you can recharge every night and use no gasoline .

_____________

The Batteries in the Volt , can be fully recharged at home from a normal 110 volt hydro outlet in about 10 hours . The 160 horse power gasoline engine used to run the generator will run on E85 and an E100 engine is coming soon .

The Dodge ZEO is strictly electric with a range of over 259 miles . It uses a 268 horsepower electric motor and will go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in under 6 seconds . This would make a great car for the city driver or the commuter but not as good for long trips . It would also be a fun car to drive . _______________