The Hidden Cost Of Hybrid Vehicles

With the automobile, came one of the most widely used technologies in the world, the invention of the internal combustion engine which has left a noticeable impact on many parts of today’s world. One of the most widely debated and controversial topics having to do with the automobile is its effect on the environment. Al Gore, former United States Vice President and Nobel Peace Prize award winner, has spent many years trying to argue the negative effects that the internal combustion engine leaves on our planet. In his presidential campaign in 2000, he preached the ideas of a cleaner environment and better ways of living. He said, “When we seek to artificially enhance our capacity to acquire what we need from the earth, we do so at the direct expense of the earth’s ability to provide naturally what we are seeking. We frequently ignore the impact of our technological alchemy on natural processes. When we manufacture millions of internal combustion engines and automate the conversion of oxygen to CO2, we interfere with the earth’s ability to cleanse itself of the impurities that are normally removed from the atmosphere.” He has led many people to believe that the automobile of today is leaving a terrible and lasting effect on the earth’s atmosphere, and that it is one of the primary causes of the term “Global Warming.” Although Gore has had a giant following and

The concern for the environment has never been bigger than at the turn of the century. The growing acceptance of global warming, coupled with the growing green marketing galore gave impetus for the clamor for major auto companies to build a better and more affordable electric car. This plus the unpredictable oil price spikes and hikes, is intensifying the race to build the ideal car of the future at a greater height.

Introduction Automobile usage has increased in America and elsewhere in the world. In a research done by Sutherland, J., et al. (2004) “The US has a contributed to 200 million passengers in cars and light truck over the past few years. Further in 1990, studies showed that US cars increased six times faster than human population. The leaders in the automotive industry must adopt some key elements to ensure success in this fast-moving environment. They must invest in knowing their markets, building brands, adapting product strategies and taking long-term view on their goals and objectives. This paper outlines some of the key factors which should be considered. Environmental factors automotive designers and engineers have always said the main threats in the American Automotive industry are the environmental factors such as fuel economy and the clean air regulations. Automotive Emission posed different problems than manufacturing discharges such as coal smoke. Increased fossil-fuel emission has resulted from the million car increase. Irritation smog, which is comprised of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, sulfur oxide and other various chemical mixtures are cited in major cities such as Los Angeles. These auto emissions are also said to cause headaches, visual pollutions, contribute to lung cancers and other respiratory disease. In the end, the engineers have designed cars that are better environmental performers, cost effective and fuel efficient to reduce the environmental

Chapter 6, “The Burden of History: Expectations Past and Imperfect” from Kirsch’s book, The Electric Vehicle and the Burden of History, focuses on the problem of automobiles in the modern day. Kirsch states that internal combustion engines release greenhouse gasses, which harm the environment. Each individual contributes to air pollution

It’s the late 1950s and America is suffering from the high amounts of smog from motor vehicles exhaust system. Roughly half of the American people live in locations that do not meet federal air quality standards. Automobiles are the prime source of air pollution that depletes the ozone layer and creates smog-forming emissions. The number of automobiles in the U.S. has increased from 74 million in 1960 to 250 million in 2010. As reported by the United States Department of Transportation, the amount of vehicles on the road has increased by 3.8 million, 1.5 percent since last year. With a high increase in Automobiles in the U.S. today, it is a necessity to switch to energy sources that are ecofriendly to escape avert another emissions disaster

The invention of the automobile in the early 20th century has had an adverse affect on our environment. Our society has used technology in order to advance the automobile to make it better and more efficient. The automobile industry knows what sells and they take advantage of that. With this growing technology to advance automobiles also comes flaws. The biggest and most obvious flaw is pollution. Because of pollution, we find ourselves asking the question of whether this technology has helped our society more than it has hurt it.

In the automotive world, efficiency and power are two elements of vehicle performance metrics that while important to many consumers and critics alike, appear to be elusive when in convolution with one another. In automotive history, good fuel efficiency equaled compromises in power and performance and vehicles with large displacements and torque usually had worse gas mileage. The exception to this rule were diesel engines, which managed to combine better efficiency than many four-cylinder gas engines while providing very high torque number for better performance. The main drawback that diesel’s faced was due to their stigma of being dirty, as they emitted more greenhouse gases including nitrous and sulfur oxides. Coupled with the stricter emissions that many states began to implement, primarily overseen by the EPA, it became harder for car manufactures to certify diesel engines for emissions while maintaining high fuel economy and power output figures. The emission control hardware and software in diesel vehicles also came at a high price and with increased complexity, both unwelcoming additions for any car company wanting to mainstream diesel’s.

There are many environmental challenges facing the American auto industry. In this paper we will focus on; the challenges within global competition, new technologies for powering the products this industry produces, the effect of emissions on the environment and the government’s reactions to these effects, as well as the consumer’s product opinions.

One of the tough choices people have to make in today’s world is what kind of car to get: electric cars, traditional gas cars, hybrid cars, and so on. Although traditional gas cars are more common, electrical and hybrid cars are growing in popularity every year. Some experts believe that the hybrid car is not only better than any other type of car, but also better for the world. Hybrid cars are becoming more popular each year because they tend to have more advanced engines, improved gas-mileage, and are economically friendly, in comparison to normal combustible engines. In order to understand and appreciate the significance of hybrid cars it is important to first look at the history, understand their function and design, and

These fuels can take multiple shapes and forms, from coal to gas to oil. As the primary sources for fuel, fossil fuels run nearly everything, ranging from houses to vehicles to electricity. Unfortunately, this would explain why fossil fuels hold a responsibility for human-caused climate change, as they power a significant number of GHG emitting methods of transportation. When it comes to climate change, transportation has appeared to have a massive impact. Based on reports in 2013 from the US Environmental Protection Agency, or the EPA, transportation has created 27% of the emissions, next to electricity at 31%. Despite not contributing the largest amount of emissions, the category, according to the EPA, has increased further than any other sector from 1990 to 2013. Of the subcategories in transportation, lightweight vehicles have appeared to emit the majority of the greenhouse gases at 60%. This sector is rivaled only by medium-duty and heavy-duty vehicles at 23%. In addition to the different fossil fuels that emit GHGs in the atmosphere, different types of gases are used. The leading gas is carbon dioxide, or CO2, with a whopping 96% of the emissions. The closest competitor is hybrid-fiber coaxials at 3%, based on the EPA’s reports. In addition, different types of transportation have appeared to affect the environment in different ways. In the sector of automobiles, the climate could be affected in different categories, from

Carbon dioxide exists in the atmosphere as one part of greenhouse gas do trap the radiation from the sun and reheat the earth. According to East Timor Review (2013), “the planet has reportedly warmed 0.3°C to 0.6°C over the last century”. (Page 200)

Conventional vehicles burn fossil fuels and emit exhaust fumes to the atmosphere. Not only have gasoline vehicles depleted natural resources, they also have caused severe environmental pollutions, especially in some populous nations such as China and India. [1] CO2 is the main contributor of the greenhouse effect. 97% of greenhouse emission is carbon dioxide. And in turn, road transportation has become the largest sector in producing carbon dioxide. [2] Because of the decreasing natural resources and the increasing environmental pollution, scientists focus more on new technologies that can help reduce those consequences. However, even though scientists hope hybrid cars could substitute traditional cars in order to reduce

The topic of vehicle emissions is always being discussed by people of all different fields. Engineers look at the problem as “How can we design vehicles to be more fuel efficient?”. On the other hand, environmentalist look at the problem as “How can we stop this?”. Authors Khan, ABM S; Clark, Nigel N; Gautam, Mridul; Wayne, W Scott; Thompson, Gregory J and Lyons, Donald W from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at West Virginia University in Morgantown have written an article for the “Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association” on the topic of vehicle emissions. The article is titled Idle emissions from medium heavy-duty diesel and gasoline trucks, the most of the contents of the article are results from an

As we all know, automobile industry plays an important part in the economy of USA; however, this industry is facing some environmental challenges. In this assignment, I would like to discuss about the challenges that the automobile industry of USA is struggling with. Specifically, there are four main challenges that will be looked into details which are global competition, new technology, emission’s effect on the environment and the government’s reaction, and the consumers’ opinion about the products.

Cars. We cannot imagine modern world without them. They are everywhere, in every as-pect of our life. We use them for shopping, getting to work, and just for entertainment. Today you will not be considered a successful person without a car. But on the other hand our obsession with automobiles is killing us. That is right, every day we slowly kill ourselves and whole world around us. Why? Because cars, along with industrial buildings and power plants are producing the highest amount of pollution. Since 2010 number of automobiles in the world went over 1 bil-lion units. Concentration of carbon dioxide had increased from approximately 200 ppmv to 400 ppmv for the last 200 years, which is higher than in previous millennia. This statistics alone show that we are overusing our motorised vehicles. So is there a way to avoid such high carbon dioxide emissions? Is there any alternative for our petrol-powered assistants? Yes, there is! Our possible salvation are so-called “ Green” cars. Basically, these are vehicles that running on a different type of fuel.Hydrogen, electricity, biodiesel, and hybrid are the most popular of them. But, regardless of their noble cause to help the environment, eco-cars are not exactly popular. Only 4-6% of all cars sold in 2013 are electric cars, and about 18% were hybrid cars. But what is the reason for that? How to encourage customers of certain age groups to buy eco-friendly vehicles? To