Alternative Energy Vehicles
Interested in alternative-energy driven cars? Here is a brief synopsis of the existing technologies, some of the problems surrounding each of them, and suggestions for further reading.
There is no question that pollution from automobiles is a major problem in industrialized countries and is increasing in developing nations. And the number of cars is increasingly rapidly: in the United States, the automobile population has increased 6X faster than the human population and 2X faster than the number of new drivers (Motavelli, 2000). At the same time, the average fuel economy of the 2001 fleet decreased to 20.4 miles per gallon, the same it was in 1980. This decrease is fueled by the growing trend in
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The positively-charged hydrogen ion travels through an electrolyte solution to the anode, while the electron – which is incapable of traveling through the solution – travels along a wire to the anode. The movement of the electron along this wire produces the electricity. When the electron and hydrogen ion meet at the anode, they combine with oxygen to form water, the waste product of fuel cells.
Fuel-cells are extremely clean and efficient, and seem to be a promising energy source. However, as of now, the hydrogen that is used in fuel-cells must be obtained somewhere – most commonly, fossil fuels. There is hope for developing zero-emission hydrogen using solar energy to split water into oxygen and hydrogen.
Noting the possible economic benefits, and the willingness of consumers to buy clean cars at reasonable prices, automobile manufacturers have been seriously looking into hydrogen fuel-cell cars. For example, General Motors has been researching a 100% fuel-cell powered car that could change the basis of traditional car design by removing the drive-shaft used in internal combustion engines, which frees up the body of the car for substantial reorganization
(http://www.sciam.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=00034FE5-BA99-1D80-90FB809EC580000).
Hybrid cars. Hybrid cars are the most currently feasible reduced-emission vehicles and provide promise for a
The Hydrogen Fuel Cell could revolutionize the world. This ingenious technology, which creates electricity from the chemical reactions of hydrogen and oxygen has, in its 150-year history, passed many of the critical tests along the path from invention to innovation. Recent developments in fuel cell technology and concurrent developments within the energy and automotive industries have brought the world to brink of the fuel cell age and the hydrogen economy.
First, the article claims that the fuel cell engines utilize easily available , renewable resources. However, the professor refutes that by saying that the resources are not easily available. Although, hydrogen is available in water, but it's not usable. She said it must be in apurified liquid state and it's highly artificial, so the process of produce and stor the liquid hydrogen is not easy because
In this article “Why the Gasoline Engine Isn’t Going Away Any Time Soon,” Joseph B. White states that alternative energy cars could be the start of a revolution in the automaker world, however, complications interfere with the outcome. Although the author suggests different ideas on alternative vehicles, he contradicts himself numerous times while also lacking credibility of any sources.
However, some pundits are concerned that adopting hydrogen energy as the sole strategy for the issues facing the automobile’s future is problematic because of the lengthy time frame in which they are projected to become ubiquitous. Furthermore, the present infrastructure for the distribution of hydrogen fuel sources or the production of hydrogen fuel cells is not only insufficient, but slow to develop. As such, fossil fuels are presently the main source for hydrogen production, which means that hydrogen vehicles do not successfully decouple the automobile from a fossil fuel economy. This is also widely inefficient because it will generate four times the carbon dioxide emissions generated by gasoline efficient automobiles. Furthermore, compressing hydrogen for the purposes of
The automotive industry is one of the largest industries in the entire world. As the world’s population grows and economic development occurs, the auto industry also expands. Unfortunately the growth in car numbers has had a negative environmenta, impact due to carbon dioxide and particulate emissions generated and released from the combustion process. Technology has developed a solution by utilizing the concept of hydrogen fuel cells. As the years have passed, there has been continuous development on automotive fuel cells and now it has come close to mass production of these vehicles. The main problem is the continued development of hydrogen fuel cells and their infrastructure may not be worth the cost.
The United States burns about a quarter of the world’s oil, half of which the gasoline powered automobile is responsible for (Lovins, 2004). For this reason, efficient, electrical forms of transportation are one of the key factors to limiting America’s oil dependence. Dating back to the late nineteenth century, the idea of the electric car is nothing new, however, in just recent years it has finally made significant progress. Innovations have enabled the electric vehicle to be portable and more attractive in recent years causing more people to make the switch from gas to electric. The transition from gasoline cars to electric vehicles projects significant breakthroughs for American energy including low dependence on oil and a cleaner future.
Through life journey most everybody had a car at one point in time but not too many people had an electric car. In a one on one interview with Marland Patton, who is a mechanic, give his advice on the electric car. His thoughts on the electric car was it has it benefits and loses. He goes on to say that, the maintenance cost yearly greatly exceed the amount of gas car.
Another area of technology that the automobile industry is working on is fuel cells. Even though it is predicted that automobiles using fuel cells will not be released until 2010, Fuel Cell Vehicles (FCV), may be the next revolutionary idea in automobiles. FCVs reflect a completely new way of thinking about automobiles. FCVs use electric
Even though hydrogen as a fuel seems to answer every problem we want it to; it also has setbacks. Although we have the technology now to bring us an endless supply of hydrogen fuel we do not have the storage or infrastructure capabilities for it. “Hydrogen
The element in fuel cells is hydrogen. Chemical reactions between the electrodes and the electrolyte generate electricity.
Electric cars are becoming very popular in today’s world and are becoming more main stream. One reason for this is the need for automobiles that have a lower or a zero carbon footprint. For the majority of the history of the automobile, the propulsion system was a gas or a diesel engine that would run off of fossil fuels. The burning of fossil fuels is very hazardous to our world and also creates much toxic pollution. However, electric cars run off of electricity, which is a very clean and pollution free resource, depending on how the electricity was produced of course. In this paper we are going to examine the history of electric cars, look into modern electric car technology, and peer into the future of electric car technology to see if EVs might be the answer to dramatically reducing our global pollution.
A fuel cell is a device that produces an electrical current through a chemical reaction. All fuel cells contain a cathode and an anode, which are positive and negative electrodes, respectively. The chemical reactions which produce electricity occur at the electrodes. Fuel cells also contain an electrolyte, which carries electrically charged particles between the electrodes. A catalyst also aids to speed up the chemical reaction at the electrodes. In fuel cells, an impurity must serve as the electrolyte; if one uses distilled water for this experiment, it could serve only as the control, because purified water does not contain any substances that react at the electrodes. Some examples of impurities used as electrolytes in various types of fuel cells include
Recent years have shown an increasingly large need for a practical renewable energy source for such reasons as diminishing fossil fuels and increases in greenhouse gasses. Hydrogen appears to be a way out of this gasoline-dug hole, or at least, a way out in the future. Hydrogen fuel cell cars are being engineered as we speak as the technologies to refuel them cleanly are being proposed. Unfortunately, most of the technologies associated with hydrogen are still in the prototype/pre-production stages and require better enhancements before becoming mainstream. This paper assesses the practicality of hydrogen power in cars both now and in the future while explicating the actual process of how a
The human race is in the midst of an energy crisis. The gasoline used around the world is currently a non-renewable resource. As the title suggests, the gasoline will eventually be totally consumed in part by the gas guzzling vehicles common today. For this reason, scientists have spent decades researching and developing alternative sources of fuel in order to power daily life on Earth for many years to come. There is a wide array of renewable fuel sources in use presently. These alternatives vary in efficiency, affordability, and many other aspects. Hydrogen powered and electric powered vehicles are two comparable alternatives that have increased in popularity and functionality in recent years and will continue to do so in the near future (10 Reasons, 2015).
Ever since the invention of the wheel, man has never ceased the quest for innovating personal mobility. From the 19th century to the present, there have been tremendous development in industrial design and chemical engineering that have contributed to the present vehicles, particularly the cars. The Toyota Prius for instance, which “was developed and released in Japan in 1997, is the world’s first mass-produced hybrid car and was made available in other parts of the world by 2000” (Cox, 2017).