Hybrids on top of the ten best eco fuel technologies
BusinessCar, a website dedicated to helping businesses get the most for their money when they buy or lease vehicles, has hashed out the pros and cons of ten green automotive technologies. After all the calculations, they've decided that hybrids are the current best choice. The editors say they "judged on emissions (that's all of them, and not just tailpipe CO2), fuel economy, tax benefits, availability and long-term viability – and then crowned a winner."
The list was drawn up with the UK (especially the availability of, say, biofuels or pure electric vehicles) and the needs of businesses in mind, so don't assume it can be easily transplanted to other locations. I'm kind of surprised to see hydrogen and fuel cells beating modern petrol at this stage of the game, but if anyone can make use of H2 vehicles right now, it's businesses with fleets in traveling around a centralized fueling station.
You can read all of their reasons in the article itself, but here's the cheat sheet.
10. GTL (Gas to Liquid)
9. LPG
8. CNG
7. Modern petrol
6. Hydrogen engine
5. Fuel cell
4. Biofuels
3. Full electric
2. Modern diesel
1. Hybrid
How would you rank these technologies?
[Source: BusinessCar]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
MT_tdi 6:05PM (5/16/2007)
Give me the modern diesel....not near the complexity of the hybrid - reliable, consistent mileage, good driveability/power/torque, longevity - no issues for emergency personnel when there is an accident - fuel is not near as flammable as gasoline or CNG, and no battery acid and power cables to deal with. Much more refined option than fuel cells...available now. I like the KISS principle - Keep it simple stupid. :-)
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PeakVT 6:32PM (5/16/2007)
I think the list confuses two things - powerplant technologies and energy sources. As such it isn't real useful.
As far as powerplant technologies for personal transport, my list would be:
1) Future PHEV w/modern diesel or future petrol
2) Modern diesel
3) Current HEV w/current petrol
4) Future petrol (miller-cycle GDI, HCCI)
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bioburner 6:29PM (5/17/2007)
I'll take the modern turodiesel any day.Simpler, better.
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Mulad 6:39PM (5/16/2007)
I'd personally bump CNG up a few notches. I guess I don't know how prevalent natural gas lines are in the UK, but there's a lot of infrastructure out there in the US that could be easily tapped into. It's possible to fill up at home if you've got a gas line and an appropriate compressing system. Unfortunately, CNG vehicles seem to have fairly poor fuel economy in gasoline gallon equivalents, so I'm not sure if the tradeoffs work out to produce less CO2 overall or not. However, we've had well over a century of working with natural gas, it appears to compress ten times as well as hydrogen, and it can be captured from a number of biological sources, so it seems to be a much more logical fuel than hydrogen in my opinion.
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Karkus 3:26PM (5/18/2007)
Wow, even the diesel loving Europeans are starting to see the light. Apparently they were able to see through the anti-hybrid scare tactics and propaganda.
But really, the main point is to support all low CO2 emitting technologies (instead of having the fanatics fighting each other over which is better). Diesel hybrids will be available in a year or two, and pretty much any fuel cell or hydrogen car will be a hybrid.
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david 4:28PM (5/20/2007)
i'll take my turbo diesel any day. it would be nice to have an engine shut off feature, but you know what, I like the sound it makes :)
oh and I run B20, so I'm doing alot better than my last car.
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