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However, they have one large disadvantage: the gases that result after their ignition are very pollutant and contribute to the global warming symptoms. For several years now, scientists have been trying to find alternatives to oil and oil derivatives for greener, fuel-efficient cars. You could one day use water to fuel you car for totally un-pollutant and environmental friendly vehicle. Is this just a Sci-Fi movie script?
Think again, as future prophecies may be closer than you think. In response to finding an alternative fuel to gas, engineers have found several viable alternatives, such as solar powered cars, hydrogen powered vehicles, hybrid cars and bio fuel cars. Each of them has their own Pro’s and Con’s, in the next paragraphs, you will read some information about each of the above alternative fuels.
The technology to create solar powered car has been around for several years, but it is recently that this technology has become mainstream enough to be used in mass production. However, none of the large, important car manufacturers has built a solar powered series car. Solar powered cars have some disadvantages however, as some of the challenges facing solar powered cars are speed and horsepower. These vehicles are not very fast and cannot run for a lot of time on solar power alone.
Steam powered engines have started the industrial revolution and they work by using steam pressure that has to be built up in order to run. Steam powered cars would nowadays be heavy and dangerous, as steam under such a high amount of pressure is very dangerous. The latest trend in car manufacturing is creating hybrid cars.
More and more car manufacturers sell or plan to sell hybrid cars in the near future and in some countries the word hybrid has become similar to environmental friendliness. So what is a hybrid vehicle?
Well, a hybrid car is a combination of a normal internal combustion engine, with power supplied by gasoline or diesel, and a battery powered electric motor that has to be charged. When running solely in batteries, these cars can run for several dozen miles without burning any oil at all.
Of course, this can be achieved only if the car moves at slow speeds, as is the speed increases, the car will start its internal combustion engine to deliver the necessary levels of power. While it has some visible benefits, this technology is new and relatively expensive.
More and more governments in the world focus on developing the Bio-fuel technology and encourage car manufacturers and users to buy cars powered by the use of bio-fuel. Bio-fuel is usually corn or soybeans based, plants that can be grown almost anywhere, making it a renewable energy source, but they have some disadvantages: these crops take up the farmland once used to grow crops for food consumption, so there will be a in-balance created.
Hydrogen Powered Cars have been seen by many as tomorrow’s car technology, as they are extremely environmentally friendly, since hydrogen is a renewable resource, but hydrogen is extremely volatile (see the Hindenburg disaster) and there has not, until recently, been a way to use it safely in mass quantities.
However, back in 1990, scientists re-discovered water, so to say. Water is made out of hydrogen and oxygen and the hydrogen in the water can be extracted to fuel the car. The focus of all car manufacturing companies is to develop cheap and efficient methods of using water as car fuel, so expect your future car to run with plain water in the next 5 or 10 years.
Category: Alternative EnergyWater Powered Car was written by:Author:Dennis JamesAdded: Fri, 21 Dec 2007 04:05:11 -0500 This Article Has Been Read 675 times View all Dennis James's articlesAbout the Author: Dennis runs Car Dealer Check which has reviews on Missouri Car Dealers including Kansas City Car Dealers. |
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