Alternative Vehicle Fuels

Ethanol is one of the new alternative fuels that we have been working with seriously in the United States since the late 1900’s. “That is when major U.S car companies began selling Flex Fuel Vehicles (FFV’s). These vehicles are designed to run on 85 percent ethanol” (Ethanol Fuel History). Ethanol is an alcohol fuel that is made from plant materials such as corn, sugar cane, and even some grasses. Using 85% ethanol could drastically diminish our oil dependency and the greenhouse gases that we produce with regular gas that we use today. “Ethanol fuel use in the U.S. has increased dramatically from about 1.7 billion gallons in 2001 to about 12.9 billion in 2012” (Ethanol). From this statistic we can tell that over the years we have started to considerably be able to and have used this fuel more often. Gasoline typically has about 10% ethanol added but by increasing that to the 85% ethanol it proves the fact that our oil dependence would lower at a very high rate. 85% ethanol gasoline (E85) is not regularly available with 2,300 stations offering this type of fuel. In order to use this fuel you would need to convert your engine. The engines that use gasoline will not accept this fuel as a regular replacement. You would need to purchase and install all of the correct conversion parts in order to make your car suitable for running on the E85 fuel which could become a little pricy for the return compared to just using gasoline. The E85 fuel is less than gasoline but is priced to be competitive with 87 octane gasoline. Even though this fuel is relatively cheaper per gallon the cost per mile is a little higher than regular gasoline. “This is due to the fact that a FFV will get around 15-25% fewer miles than a gasoline powered vehicle” (Eth...

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...d of work that needs to be improved until we can fully pronounce that we have made a choice about our future fuel source. Until everything is perfected on prototypes and fully converted gasoline will be our primary source. In the near future we could certainly be looking at some kind of different alternative fuel for our cars that we will use every day. We will no longer need to use highly polluting gasoline and hopefully we can start to play our part in saving the environment.

Works Cited

Alternative Fuels Data Center. Benefits and Considerations of Electricity as a Vehicle Fuel. http://www.afdc.energy.gov/fuels/electricity_benefits.html

Ethanol. Ethanol. http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/ethanol.shtml

Ethanol Fuel History. Ethanol Fuel History. http://www.fuel-testers.com/ethanol_fuel_history.html

Hydrogen. Hydrogen. http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/hydrogen.shtml