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Exploring Green Vehicles

Green vehicles are the vehicles that take advantage of alternative sources of energy, partially or completely, to power them. The use of alternative propulsion other than fossil fuels can ensure zero to a less level of carbon emissions -- bringing significant contribution to the environment. Some of the various alternative vehicles make use of ethanol, electricity, water, or can be hybrids that are partly fossil-fueled and partly alternative energy powered.

Let us explore the basic of these green vehicles and make a comparative study on them.

1 Electric

For people who are on the look out for clean, sustainable mobility, then EV propelled by electric motors is the perfect solution for them. The enhanced energy-to-weight ratio presented by Lithium-ion batteries has seen their extended use in the EV. But with these batteries priced at a premium, bringing the cost higher, there is still a long way to go for these vehicles to make them a viable solution for the average consumer. Moreover, the pure electric vehicle is known as the Neighborhood Electric Vehicle on account of its capacity to only be able to withstand shorter journeys, where the normal internal combustion-powered cars are lesser effective. This is truer in cities which are known to wolf down huge amounts of gasoline to drive the engine.

But the fuel cell-powered EVs are gaining popularity for their fuel efficiency rather than conventional cars. The carbon emissions are pulled down by a 55 percent to 99.9 percent as compared to diesel engines depending on the source of electricity.

2 Ethanol-fuelled vehicles

Ethanol or ethyl alcohol-fuelled cars can be made to run on 100 percent alcohol, or gasoline blended alcohol fuel. The ethanol for powering vehicles is generated from corn, sugar cane, cheese whey, brewery waste, and potato wastes or the cellulosic ethanol made from woody grass and other biomasses. Vehicles, like the flexible-fuel vehicles, generally adopt an 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline to power the vehicle. States like California follow a system wherein the gasoline offered contains a small portion of ethanol to improve the oxygen content of gasoline, for lowering pollution. The E85 with 85 percent ethanol is known to produce 85 percent less toxins, sulfur, and carcinogens -- resulting in lowering carbon emissions by 25 percent and greenhouse emissions by 35 percent. A switch to E85 can bring in a five to seven percent rise in horsepower, but a 10 to 20 percent fall in fuel efficiency depending on the model of the car.

3 Water-fueled cars

Water-fueled cars use the water injection technique, otherwise known as the anti-detonant injection, wherein water gets injected into the cylinder or the fuel-air mixture to enhance the compression and cooling in the combustion chambers. As the adoption of water injection increases octane rating, greater performance can be ensured by combining the right technique. Water is also introduced in hydrogen cars which require it to power them.

While these non-polluting sources make a significant contribution to the world today, it is the price and the lower number of refueling stations that pull many back from this capital investment. With the Government coming up with innovative ways to fight back this drawback, one can say that greener cars will slowly replace fully gasoline cars in the future.

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By: Levi Quinn

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