The Future For Automobiles: Alternative Energy Sources

Gasoline makes the world move, literally! It is an essential product required for the common internal combustion engine to operate. This fuel gives our automotive engines the energy needed to move. However, this wonder fuel is not without its problems and side effects. Companies have started to understand how much of a concern this has become to their customer base and they realized that a fuel-efficient automobile is becoming very important to the consumers. Unfortunately, engineers can only design so many improvements before the internal combustion engine becomes too costly to manufacture. To combat this automobile manufacturers are looking at alternative ways to replace or help supplement the internal combustion engine. The most popular alternative means we see today are, but not limited to Gas/Electric Hybrid, Diesel Fuel, and of course an all-Electric Drive. There is a major shift into alternative fuels and electric drive cars.

Gasoline/Electric Hybrid cars were one of the first of alternative fuel vehicles to be hit mass production. A very simple and basic explanation on how they operate is that the vehicle contains a small, low displacement combustion engine with electric motor/s placed in specific locations. The drive system intelligently switches between the two drive systems based upon how you are driving or if you switch modes manually. Further increasing the advantages of hybrid cars, they have developed a Regenerative Braking system. This is the most widely found in use technology designed to help the electric drive motors last longer by capturing the energy created from when you apply your brakes and converting it into electricity. According to the US Energy and Information Association, there are about 2.5 million h...

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...line is a byproduct of crude oil, which is a finite resource and requires tremendous amount of energy needed to convert it into the wonderful gasoline we use today. Gas also tends to be a very poor and inefficient energy source. The simple operation of the internal combustion is in itself an inefficient and wasteful operation. Through the four stages of combustion, not all the gas that is used gets fully burned off; the utilized fuel produces an abundance of carbon monoxide, which is a heavy pollutant. Automotive companies over the years have invested millions of dollars into new technologies that makes the internal combustion engine more efficient; increasing the efficiency translates into less pollution, less wasted fuel, and more MPGs (miles per gallon). This is a major reason why there is a positive trend towards more alternative fuel vehicles and electric cars.