Electric, Hybrid or Alternative Fuel Cars – Which Will Prevail?

[saurabhjain 2,288]

There is a growing sense of urgency in the automotive industry that more should be done to reduce dependency on fossil fuels and CO2 emissions. OEMs are continually channelling more resources into developing the next generation of low carbon vehicles, aimed at addressing the issues of CO2 emissions, the soaring cost of fossil fuels and fuel source security.

Currently there are four main approaches to powering vehicles that are leading the change; electric, biofuels (e.g. ethanol), alternative fuels (e.g. hydrogen) and fossil fuels (e.g. diesel), or some combination of these. All of these fuel types are capable of changing our approach to the technological aspects of vehicle powertrain, and there are both positive and negative aspects. The question is… which solution do we think will prevail?

[Varatha Krishnan 22]

The future will be the hybrid vehicle, i.e., with two kinds of working- Bio-Diesel and Electric.

First i'll make my point.

✔ It is said that the distance travelled by electric cars are less, but this belief was broken by the leading Electric car maker Tesla(The car image in the question), which travelled for 400 kms in single charge at a speed of upto 250 kmph.!

✔ Bio-Diesel manufactured from Jatropha Curcus is found to be cheap and abundant. The cost is also less and is around 38 rupees only.(With low emissions, higher Octane number, Same compression Ratio, etc)

So, A car with hybrid engine(like BMW i8) with this bio-diesel and electic engine, having electric engine to work for upto some few kilometers and then, automatically switching to Bio-Diesel, to the rest, may have extra mileage and cost saving with comfortness.(since Diesel in starting produce vibrations)

This will dominate in the near Future,

[PhilJ 1]

Truth is, the market will ultimately decide. Tesla's are great, but priced out of reach for the average consumer. Same with Hybrids and fuel cell. I know people that opted for the straight gas-powered car over the hybrid version based solely on purchase price.

[Serwfin 0]

I agree with Varatha, but not completely. I suppose that hybrid vehicle will be only interim and after that, when eletric engine efficiency reach desirable level we will change hybrid vehicle in favour eletric.

[georgemcbride 0]

Hello, all these cars have their own advantages and disadvantages. I would prefer to use alternative fuel efficient cars. You could have probably heard fuel efficient cars in regards to a thousand times already, but these cars really are great for the environment and for the wallet. Yes, they are very pricey at first, but eventually them pays off with the lack of gas bills that you will have to pay. They also emit much less pollutants than diesel search engines do, so you will probably be helping your environment by buying one.

You can learn more about the pros and cons of electric, hybrid or alternative fuel cars on http://dieselgrossisten.no/.

[Charles Stringer 0]

I personally believe that hybrid vehicles will prevail for a few reasons:

1) Gas is the easiest to obtain- Right now there are not as many hydrogen fuel stations or as many electric charging stations as there are gas stations. Implementing more of these stations across the United States will be very costly. Yes, a Tesla can be charged at home but what if you are taking a long driving trip.

2) Gas prices are currently low- This does not provide enough incentive for consumers to switch over to any vehicle that does not use gas. However, this will change if gas prices are increased dramatically.

If the future shows the current trends being shown today, I think hybrid cars will dominate the market. 

[Hetal Patel 15]

Though both these cars have electric motors which drive them, but fuel cell cars and electric cars distinguish themselves fundamentally, i.e. their heart; power supply. 

Fuel cell cars contain a power/electricity producing unit. They are capable of generating power for motor drive along their cruise. Fuel cell is a non-conventional way of generating power, i.e. using hydrogen and oxygen.

On the counterpart electric vehicles are more of a container of energy. You'll have to juice it up on full charge and cruise. Once the charge in battery is over, the cruise is over.