Fueling the Future: Exploring Alternative Energy Sources for Cars

Gasoline has been the fuel of the automotive industry for several decades, but alternative energy sources are the future. What fuel will take over next?

Currently, we’re on the precipice of electricity taking over where gasoline and diesel have stood tall for generations. Electricity comes with its own challenge, many of which involve charging times, vehicular weight, and the materials required to build the battery packs. That said, when gas prices move up over $4.00 per gallon, drivers flock to dealerships to find the latest hybrid or electric vehicle to offset this cost of gasoline.

Here are several potential alternative energy sources to fuel the cars of the future.

Is ethanol a viable solution?

Ethanol is ethyl alcohol and is a practical and useful fuel alternative to gasoline. This material has been used as an additive in many fuels for years. Currently, all new cars sold in some countries run on a mixture of ethanol and gasoline. In the United States, this product is made primarily from corn, which is grown and harvested in the Midwest. This is where you’ll find most of the stations selling E85 fuel.

The mixtures we see most often are E10, which is 10 percent ethanol/90 percent gasoline, but E85 is 85 percent ethanol. This material contains less energy per gallon than gasoline, which results in 30 percent fewer miles per tank than E10 gasoline. This results in fuel that’s much more expensive than gasoline per tank, which doesn’t solve the problem of increasing gas prices.

Could biodiesel be the right solution?

Biodiesel is fuel made from vegetable oil that’s being used to power diesel engines. This could be on of the best alternative energy sources as leftover vegetable oil from restaurants can be turned into biodiesel. Some companies have experimented with straight vegetable oil with some success, although a transition to this product requires modification of the diesel engines.

Unfortunately, most automakers will not warranty vehicles in which the biodiesel concentration is higher than five percent. Recently Ford announced it would allow the new Super Duty diesel pickups to remain under warranty when the biodiesel concentration reaches 20 percent.

Will compressed natural gas be the next vehicle fuel?

The automotive industry has used natural gas since the 1930s, offering several models over the years that have driven well using this fuel. Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is an alternative energy source that might become an important part of future vehicle driving. Up to 85 percent of the CNG consumed is produced and used in the United States, which removes the reliance on foreign entities for this material.

Currently, the greatest challenge to using CNG is the lack of infrastructure support and adoption. It takes much longer to fill a fuel tank with CNG than it does to fill with regular gasoline or diesel, which puts us in the EV conversation. Also, a CNG vehicle requires a large thank that holds only a small amount of the fuel, making it an ineffective option.

Electric vehicles already show promise; will this continue?

Many world governments already support the move away from gasoline and diesel toward electric vehicles. There are arguments on both sides of the coin, but in the long run, EVs are much better for the environment, which is much of why these vehicles have received global approval. EVs are also more versatile than most vehicles with homeowners installing at-home charging stations, which makes it easy to refuel these vehicles at night.

The limited driving range, long charging times, and battery components cause many to avoid driving EVs, but that could change as the market transitions completely away from gas and diesel vehicles to utilize electricity to power our automotives. Also, many point out that electricity is still produced mostly by burning coal, which is extremely harmful to the environment.

Can hydrogen be a future alternative fuel?

One of the most significant challengers to the EV revolution is hydrogen. The most plentiful element in the world could be the right fuel source, but it comes with some challenges. In an effort to find the right alternative energy sources for the automotive world, hydrogen should receive serious consideration. Some automakers have already begun to experiment with hydrogen-powered vehicles called FCEVs which use hydrogen fuel cells and electricity to burn and use this material.

The infrastructure challenges facing other fuels also plague hydrogen. This means a move away from gasoline to hydrogen could be problematic, although refueling a liquid hydrogen tank takes about as much time as a gas tank.