Gas Powered Cars Vs. Alternative Powered Cars
In the recent past, alternative energy has become a concept with rapidly growing popularity. One industry that has been working with alternative fuels is the automotive industry. Cars and trucks have always had a lot of available options, but today, you must also decide which fuel type you would like to buy.
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Fueling Availability
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You can find at least one petroleum (gas and diesel) filling station in every city in the country. Gasoline and diesel fuels have been a standard for powering cars and trucks since their inception. Alternative power is not a new concept, but it is however, a new product. When talking about biodiesel or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, it is important to consider how common filling stations for these fuels are. You may find a couple in larger, more densely populated cities, but these stations grow scarce beyond that.
Economy
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Fuel economy has only been an issue in cars and trucks a couple of times in the last 30 years. With the growing need for ecological responsibility and low operation costs, automakers around the world have been working to provide the most fuel efficient cars possible. Even with the technology they have, the most fuel efficient cars barely break 35 MPG. Electric cars like the Chevrolet Volt, can either run completely off electricity with no gasoline, or can achieve a staggering 230 MPG by running a gasoline powered generator.
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Reliability
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Automobile manufacturers have had well over a century to develop a reliable vehicle. Most petroleum vehicles today are capable of little to no maintenance for the first couple years of ownership and will go without fail. Manufacturers claim that any alternative powered vehicle they produce is reliable, and there is no evidence to prove otherwise.
Safety
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Petroleum fuels can be extremely flammable, and even explosive under the right circumstances. Because of this, countless injuries and deaths from vehicle fires have occurred since the dawn of the automobile. It would be easy to say that electric vehicles would be much safer, but it is still too early in their existence to make a statement like that. Hydrogen is a flammable gas, and could be dangerous if mistreated, just like gasoline.
Ecological Impact
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Petroleum based fuels produce CO2 when they are used; this is a greenhouse gas. It is estimated that the burning of these fossil fuels are one of the largest contributors of greenhouse gasses and global warming. Hybrid vehicles produce a much smaller amount of greenhouse gasses, and the hydrogen fuel cell is said to create no emissions except water.
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References
- Handbook of Alternative Fuel Technologies; Sunggyu Lee, James G. Speight, and Sudarshan K. Loyalka; 2007
- Hybrid and Alternative Fuel Vehicles; James D. Halderman and Tony D. Martin; 2008
- Tomorrow's Energy: Hydrogen, Fuel Cells, and the Prospects for a Cleaner Planet; Peter Hoffmann and Tom Harkin; 2002
