Alternative Vehicles

For those looking for a guilt-free driving experience, alternative vehicles, that is, vehicles that run on non-fossil fuels, are the best answer. Non-fossil fuels include ethanol, biodiesel, hydrogen, electricity, natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Hybrid and flex cars are the most popular alternative vehicles.

Hybrid cars are popular alternative vehicles that combine two or more propulsion systems. Usually one of the engines runs on gasoline and the other (or other ones) consists of an electric drive motor. Hybrids deliver above-the-average MPG performance.

Flex cars are also very popular alternative vehicles (especially in Brazil and the United States) which can run on alcohol, gasoline or a combination of both from the same tank. Corn and sugar cane are the biggest sources of ethanol and research is currently being carried out in the field of cellulosic ethanol, which is produced from woody grasses and other biomass types.

Taking a more futurist route into alternative vehicles, electric vehicles (EV) attract a lot of enthusiasm but still face hurdles to be overcome, the main one being battery life. The biggest promise comes from Lithium-ion batteries, although they are expensive. Battery is also a problem for so-called plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles (PHEV). Hydrogen is another much talked out source for alternative vehicles and probably the cleanest one too. Its water vapor and heat emissions are very environmentally friendly. Most alternative vehicles running on hydrogen are demonstration models but consumers already have access to a few models such as the Honda FCX Clarity and Chevy Equinox Fuel Cell.

Finally, there is natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) alternative vehicles. The former is a clean-burning fossil fuel used mainly by big commercial vehicles such as trucks and delivery vans. Honda�s Civic GX is a well-known natural gas model currently available. Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG, or simply propane) is more popular (around 9 million vehicles worldwide). Propane consists of a mixture of gases manufactured during the process of crude oil refinement. It costs less than standard gas but the vehicle needs to be retrofitted and will cover fewer miles per tank.