vehicles
Using alternative fuels to power your current car will most likely require a conversion kit of some kind. These can be obtained fairly easily and you can pay someone else to install it if you’re not sure how to do it yourself. If you are already considering purchasing a new vehicle - there are commercially mass produced vehicles that are built to run on alternative energy.
The following links open to blog entries on this website:
List of Hybrid Vehicles
List of Electric Vehicles
List of Ethanol Vehicles
List of Hydrogen Vehicles
Hybrid Vehicles
Hybrid vehicles, such as the Honda Insight (USA 1999-2006) and the Toyota Prius (Japan 1997; Worldwide 2001) run on both electric power and internal combustion.
“The computer program used in the Prius shuts off the engine when the car is stopped, is reversing, or is descending hills, thereby dramatically decreasing fuel consumption in city driving . The HSD’s on-board computer program determines when and how to use the engine, motor, or both to power the car and recharge the battery so as to maximize efficiency. Typically, a gasoline engine runs inefficiently at half-throttle, creating a choking condition called pumping loss, a major reason for the inefficiency of gasoline engines compared to diesels. The Prius minimizes pumping loss by using a high torque range as much as possible with the throttle fully open. Drive-by-wire throttle control technology and Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive (a torque combiner, electric drive, and computer control) are essential to this engine control. In addition to the immediate benefit of reducing fuel consumption and emissions, stopping the gasoline engine also improves the performance of the catalytic converter, as the exhaust gases from an idling engine tend to cool the catalyst below its optimal temperature.”
