Fuel Efficient Cars Of The Future

It is never too late to correct a mistake and this is what car manufacturers and scientists are trying to do. Fossil fuel prices are killing not only personal but country economies. The ozone layer in the atmosphere has been corrupted and so is the air we breathe every day. There used to be a time when people would go out into the country to breathe fresh air, this is not true anymore; even the air in the poles is contaminated. Scientists, engineers and vehicle manufacturers are desperately working on solutions to solve this problem.

Today large scale investigation and testing is taking place with different forms of energy to substitute fossil fuels in vehicles. They know that the problem is not only about contamination and prices, it is also about the way the inventories of fossil fuel are being drastically reduced all over the world. Right now there are several options on the table, they are being tested all over the world and the results are positive. These are what manufacturers have deemed to call hybrids; they are vehicles that run with a combination of fossil fuels and electricity.

These fuel efficient cars run on electricity most of the time, their fossil fuel engines start when they need to recharge the electric batteries or when they need extra power to climb a hill or another reason that requires more power than the electric engine has. So far they have had excellent results and they have established themselves in the fifty one to thirty nine miles per gallon range. This is great compared with the fifteen to twenty mile per gallon range that ordinary cars have. The centre of their efforts for the future is to eliminate the fossil fuels altogether substituting them for ethanol or other bio fuels.

Other manufacturers and engineers are working on increasing the internal combustion engine's efficiency; at present only 15% of the energy produced is used to propel the vehicle, the rest dissipates into the air or is wasted in gear motions and tire friction. Scientists are working on engines that will not simply dissipate the heat into the air but that they will use it to generate more physical energy. Examples of this are the hot air and compressed air cars; they will eventually run using the heat produced by their engines. Steam heated by the running motor has been used to accumulate pressure and produce steam or compressed air, this steam creates the energy to move the car. Once the steam and pressurized air systems are perfected, then scientists will attempt to eliminate the fossil fuel factor and run the engine with ethanol or another biofuel.

Another hopeful choice for the future and mass transportation is hydrogen fuel, whether it is used to create electricity by combining with oxygen in a fuel cell or whether it is burned in an internal combustion engine to transform chemical energy into mechanical energy. Great advances have been made with this technology but it is still too expensive to attempt using it in a popular car. Experiments continue on increasing energy yield so different size vehicles can be made using hydrogen as a fuel. Huge advances have been made with this technology and soon we will see it in the streets on cars driven by ordinary people.

Great advances are being made every day in the development of new technologies and sources of energy for new cars. But all the work is not only for the scientists to do, we have some responsibility too. Transforming our cars into another fuel source is possible today; it is something to keep in mind while new technology continues to develop. Keeping our cars in the best shape possible is another way we can help. Tune ups, changing air and oil filters, keeping the tires inflated to the right pressure, these are things that help save energy, any help we can give is always appreciated so keep the environment and the future in your mind always, do not contaminate the Earth.