alternitive fuels for automobiles?
451447
According to the EPA:\nCompressed Natural Gas \nBiodiesel March   \nEthanol \nLiquefied Natural Gas \nMethanol\nPropane
195139
A flex fuel car. the gas is generally cheaper but harder to find. The engines are regular engines and no expensive hybrid batteries to replace. Or they have the clean diesel cars now too.
320789
It won't be there, and there is no satisfactory alternative.  Biofuels are a fantasy.  Try running your car on wind, coal or nuclear power.  \n\nGone is gone.  It's like money in the bank.  After you spend it all, there ain't no more.
256887
I have never heard of the idea of burning "Water" in a carbureator.  Actually (not that I am a car expert), I have never heard ot burning anything in the carbureator, isnt that suppose to mix the fuel-air before it gets into the engine for combustion?\n\nAnyhow, when gasoline (or any Hydrocarbon) is combusted/"burnt" one of the products is water.  It doesnt make much sense to burn somethat to produce extra energy if it is already being produced anyway as a byproduct.\nYour not going to get anything extra out of trying to burn water, more like than not, you'll loose a lot of energy by having to heat it up...stealing energy away from other expanding gasses.\n\nOne thing though, if you put water (steam) into your engine, you will be displacing fuel and Oxygen which ordinarily would be combusted.  Having less fuel-air in the engine to cobust would mean less energy would come out of each "cycle" of the engine.  As long as your not very demanding on your engine (not trying to tow a boat up a big hill), this might well be OK, you will use less gasoline and therefore get better "Gass" mileage....in theory.\n\nOf course there is a way to seperate the Hydrogen (and Oxygen) out of water, actually, there are a lot of water to do this, but every way requires more energy input than you will ever get out of combusting the Hydrogen back with the Oxygen.  The basic laws of thermodynamics tell us this is a no win situation and any attemp to try to electrolysize the water using the alternator (a popularly spread theory) is bound to fail, since in essence, your trying to make a perpetual motion machine.  The alternator is powered by the engine, the engine is powered by the fuel.  If the fuel your using is made by the alternator, you have got a cycle going that wont last long.
693408
It's not nitrogen... It's hydrogen. They called my car the "Hindenburg" after it burst into flames when I pumped in a few pounds too many way back when in Lakehurst, New Jersey... Oh, the humanity!
911761
I'm not sure that methanol has been seriously proposed as a widely used fuel. Methanol is a poisonous alcohol and chemically different from ethanol, which HAS been proposed as an alternative fuel and is available in many stations in the midwest (and extensively in Brazil). GM makes ethanol cars and trucks now.\n\nMethanol is used on a limited basis to fuel internal combustion engines, mainly by virtue of the fact that it is not nearly as flammable as gasoline. Methanol blends are the fuel of choice in open wheel racing circuits like Champcars, as well as in radio controlled model airplanes (required in the "glow-plug" engines that primarily power them), cars and trucks. Dirt circle track racecars such as Sprint cars, Late Models, and Modifieds use methanol to fuel their engines. Drag racers and mud racers also use methanol as their primary fuel source. Methanol is required with a supercharged engine in a Top Alcohol Dragster and, until the end of the 2005 season, all vehicles in the Indianapolis 500 had to run methanol. Mud racers have mixed methanol with gasoline and nitrous oxide to produce more power than gasoline and nitrous oxide alone.\n\nOne concern with the addition of methanol to automotive fuels is highlighted by recent groundwater impacts from the fuel additive methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE). Leaking underground gasoline storage tanks created MTBE plumes in groundwater that eventually adulterated well water. Methanol's high solubility in water raises concerns that similar well water contamination could arise from the widespread use of methanol as an automotive fuel.
428505
do something on alternative energy or fuel sources. or hybrid machines.
1036953
There has been a MAJOR breakthrough in converting fuel out of water as reported by FOX News; ABC, NBC, & CNN.\n\nCheck out: http://www.waterpoweredcars.net
513474
General Motors is currently researching a Hydrogen Cell Vechicle.  If successful this vehicle would run on H2O.  The have a video on the research.  I wish i had the cash to buy stock in the company making the motor/cell.
647335
synthetic gasoline and diesel fuels can be made from coal by a process called gasification (products are carbon monoxide and hydrogen) followed by Fischer-Tropsch reaction in which CO and H2 produce gasoline and diesel fuel.\n\nAlso, fuels for cars are: ethanol (fermentation processes from any sugar source), acetylene (can power engines in 2 times - east german Trabant engine), biodiesel (only for diesel engines) (made from natural oils (new or used) and methanol) \n\nSearch with googgle using key words: biofuel, bioethanol, fischer-tropsch, biodiesel (can be made at home), hydrogen (water electolysis or algae producers)
648031
It's not.\nIf you're thinking only of internal combustion engines, they can be built to run on a number of other fuels...\n\nKerosene/diesel, most of the alcohols, pretty much any volatile liquid or explosive gas -  hydrogen being a favourite...   (If I recall correctly, somebody once built an engine that ran on peanut oil...)\n\nIn practice, petrol/gasoline has been readily available for some time and, until recently, there was little incentive to develop efficient alternatives.  That may change.\n\nThen there's electrical propulsion, steam, direct-heat engines, and a bunch of other ideas waiting to be looked into
231845
Car manufacturers were forced to switch to fuel injection do to government regulations on emissions. Regulations which do more harm than good I might add. Fuel injection is good for most vehicles, but INEXPENSIVE sports cars would be better off with carbs.
744587
Hydrogen powered autos is the way to go. The sun's energy can be used to separate Hydrogen from Oxygen, so you definitely have something environmentally friendly.
82643
If things keep going as they are we wont be driving cars that run on gas. There are electric cars in development and other forms of fuel being developed.
137307
You should probably do a google search on it. Put in alternative fuels, International Energy Agency or LEED(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). The International Energy Association website has a lot of info on that, but countries like America, Australia, Netherlands/Holland, Germany, Japan, Kenya, and a lot of countries are using alternative fuels/energy. This is another good site - http://www.oecd.org/topic/0,2686,en_2649_37459_1_1_1_1_37459,00.html
724359
That is virtually impossible to answer, as gasoline is a mixture of different hydrocarbons varying from 5 to 10 carbon atoms per molecule.
29418
Ethanol is bad and creates many nasty acids that wear away the journal bearing babbits, etc.  Many materials cannot stand up to the increase acidity present when burning higher percentages of ethanol. (Boy i hope i don't mean methanol instead of ethanol.  You might want to double check me there!)\n\nCNG can ONLY be used on SUPERCHARGED diesel engines.  To date, there are no SUPERCHARGED automotive diesel engines made.  The only way to get CNG into a diesel engine is to use very large superchargers which run mechanically off the crankshaft to ensure enough air-fuel mixture gets into the engine.  See Waukesha for stationary CNG products.  Traditionally, many diesel/CNG power plants run on CNG most of the time to save $.  \n\nCNG is GREAT for normally aspirated automotive spark-ignition engines.  It may produce less peak power, but the cylinder wear is REDUCED, oil contamination REDUCED--the engine runs SO MUCH CLEANER it is unbelievable.  Combustion chambers remain spotless and spark plugs stay clean.  CNG evaporators need a heat source, so in cold climates you may have to have a preheater.\n\nYou may be able to increase compression ratio when building up an automotive conversion--but don't overdo it.  I know plenty of CNG trucks that end up blowing a head gasket because people have a lead foot.  You could probably run a 9.0.  The best engines to use are V-8 carbureted truck engines.  \n\nTotal fleets of frozen food delivery trucks have been converted to CNG--but none has a diesel engine--they are all gasoline type engines.  So they do use them in trucks.  \n\nCNG will run out fast in your automotive application.  CNG must be stored in a gas phase, which means by the cubic foot.  It is not practical usually to build CNG storage into a car, and check with your Dept. of Transportation on explosion hazards--it may be illegal in some cases to carry so much cubic feet of explosive gas on a car or in a non-rated tank.  The heating value, i.e. energy per cubic foot of fuel is far less than gasoline, and less than propane. \n\nThe most practical conversions for cars are propane kits.  They are very simple: pressure regulator, evaporator, and some kind of throttle linkage.  You will get a few more miles per bottle of propane than CNG.  Both propane and CNG keep engines spotlessly clean.  Be sure to start with a clean engine and be sure that the valves have valve seats in the heads.  Exhaust gases can run the valves a bit hotter than when burning gasoline because of unburnt hydrocarbons in the exhaust--if your air-fuel ratio is right, you will never have that problem with CNG or LPG.