Alternative Energy Sources for Cars

The price of oil is worrying for many car owners. They are looking for alternative energy sources for cars. They hope that they can save money by switching to alternative energy sources for cars. They know that the oil price is increasing and unlikely to come down again.


There are many people in the world looking for alternative energy sources for their cars. Probably the only group of car owners who are not worried stay in Middle East where they pay an extremely low price to power their cars.

When the oil price hit a record high a year ago, the effect of the increasing prices of petroleum was felt throughout the world. Many people and many businesses found it hard to cope with the impossibly high oil price.

Many people are trying to look for alternative energy sources for vehicles so that they can save money.

Cars running on alternative fuel means that they are using on fuel other than diesel or gasoline.

There are many different types of hybrid cars and cars powered on renewable alternative energy sources. There are cars running on electricity or solar energy. There are hybrid cars using gasoline and electricity. There are hybrid cars using water-to-gas technology that use water to supplement the gas.

Hybrid cars are generally more expensive than normal cars. The cost of production is still high and the production of hybrid cars is still low. Cars which solely run on renewable alternative energy sources are still very rare.

There are many reasons contributing to the popularity of hybrid cars. Many governments and car producers are putting research money to produce better hybrid cars or cars which run only on renewable alternative energy sources.

The heavy taxes on fuel, especially in Europe and the tightening of environmental laws contribute to the popularity of hybrid cars.

Since normal cars run on fossil fuels which lead to the pollution of the city, the city is getting more polluted and the volume of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is increasing. This in turn leads to global warming and climatic changes.

Some people cars modify their cars so that the cars can run on LPG, ethanol, solar power, hydrogen and fuel cells.

Some hybrid cars run on liquefied petroleum gas or LPG with a mixture of propane and butane. The hydrocarbon gases turn to liquid when it is compressed. People save money using hybrid cars, since hybrid cars running on LPG can cut the fuel expenses by 50%.

The solar powered cars convert sunlight into electricity. The solar powered cars runs on the electricity generated by the solar cells. Solar panels to tap the solar energy put on the surface, especially the roof of the car.

Some people modify their cars to run on ethanol. Ethanol is an alcohol. Ethanol is produced by the fermentation of plant juice with a high level of sugar or from crops with high carbohydrates content. Brazil began to convert sugar cane into ethanol in 1975. Brazil manages to save about $1.8 billion since it can replace about 200,000 barrels of oil daily consumption with Ethanol.

Brazil has produced 5.4 million ethanol- powered cars and exported to Sweden and Japan. This production of ethanol-powered cars provide nearly 900,000 jobs. One benefit of using ethanol as fuel for cars is the ability to reduce toxic emissions compared with petrol-charged vehicles.

Fuel cell cars make use of technology to covert hydrogen and oxygen into electricity and heat. The electricity is used to power the electric motor, and the emissions from fuel cell cars are heat and water.

Many people believe that cars running on hydrogen as the ultimate clean and green cars. Since hydrogen cars produce heat and water vapor as the by-product, the emissions from hydrogen cars are considered environmental friendly.

Hybrid cars generally use two different energy sources. An example of a hybrid car is the Toyota Prius. Toyota Prius uses advanced technology to combine the small gas engine with an electric motor. When driver drives Toyota Prius at slow speed, Toyota Prius runs on electric motor.

If the driver increases the speed on the freeway, Toyota Prius runs on both gasoline and electric motor. The battery for Toyota Prius is being recharged during the process.

Many producers join the race to produce the cheapest and best alternate fuel-cars. When they can find ways make cheap alternate fuel-cars, the consumers can finally relax. They do not need to worry about increasing oil price anymore.