Green Cars

With the increasing prices of fuel and emissions, along with pollution threatening the existence of human existence, green cars and the greening of cars has become a priority of governments and car companies today.

Green cars are environmentally friendly cars. They are less polluting than the traditional all petroleum internal combustion engines. They use bio fuel made from plants to reduce the consumption of petroleum. Hybrid cars run partly on petroleum and partly on other non fossil fuels. Non fossil fuels used to make hybrid fuels are distilled from plant refuse or vegetable oils and a smaller quantity of petroleum. Today, hybrid cars are more expensive than cars that use a petroleum combustible engine but the long term game in fuel costs are likely to be considerable.

The benefits of driving cars are that they are environmentally friendly and spew few pollutants into the air thus preventing possible environmental disasters like global warming and the greenhouse effect. Using hybrid cars is good for human health. Breathing the fumes from these cars are less harmful than breathing in the fumes of vehicles that use petroleum engines. The EPA advocates the greening of cars with its, ‘Smartway’ and ‘Smartway Elite’ program. Hybrid cars are highly priced because of the cost involved in making the engines. The cars make up the high cost with fuel savings, pollution prevention, and an easy way to shut down combustion in places where the traffic is idle and where pure petroleum cars emit the maximum fumes. The only downside to hybrid cars is their lack of acceleration and speed. In some ways this lack of speed makes hybrid cars less dangerous on the road.

The first alternative renewable fuel added to petroleum to make cars more fuel efficient was ethanol. It met with some success in Brazil in the eighties and later all countries began hybridizing fuel by adding ethanol to petroleum for greater fuel efficiency in cars. Ethanol has not become an alternative to petroleum and the energy used in making ethanol is often more than the output it gives.

Bio diesel is the other alternative fuel which is used for heavy duty vehicles for greater fuel efficiency. Biodeisel is made from rapeseed and soy oil. Both these sources of fuel are renewable vegetable based fuel. The benefit of using biodeisel is that it is both a fuel and lubricant that helps to maintain the engine better. Biodeisel produces more power than many other forms of alternate energy. The only drawback with biodeisel engines is that they stall if the fuel becomes cold. Biodeisel engines easily absorb water which is bad for the proper working of the engine.

New technologies are being evolved by car companies every day. Gasoline turbocharged direct injection engines are the new technology that gives nearly as much output as a petroleum combustion engine. New forms of diesel are being developed from household refuse and rubber automobile tires. Petroleum alternatives for fuelling green cars are the focus of ongoing research and development in the automobile industry. The future of all automobiles of every size and shape is looking very green.