subject: Why Green Vehicles Are Ideal For The Planet [print this page] There has been a lot of talk lately about green vehicles, and it is not about the colour green. A green vehicle is basically an auto that is not as harmful to the environment as the gas-powered vehicles that have been produced and used for the last several decades. Green vehicles are low-carbon emission machines. Many of them are generated by a variety of fuels such as alcohol, electricity, natural gas, hydrogen, propane, and biodiesel. They are often known as alternative-fuel vehicles.
Green vehicles are becoming more popular because traditional vehicle pollutants have been linked many respiratory and cardiopulmonary diseases and many people have died as a result of the air pollution they produce.
Below are a couple of examples of green vehicles that are in use today.
Alcohol vehicles
Alcohols such as ethanol (grain alcohol) and methanol (wood alcohol) and have used as alternative fuels for quite some time. Did you know that the first car produced by Henry Ford first car was actually fuelled with alcohol? Both of these alcohols are currently in use as transportation fuels will probably continue to be in the future. Alcohol in drinks is ethanol, but the type used for fuel has poison added to it. So you definitely do not want to siphon out anybody's gas tank. Methanol is nearly all made from natural gas today and is also quite poisonous and harmful if swallowed. Methanol is the required fuel for the Indianapolis 500 and other types of racing and has been for several decades. This is because it is made from a single chemical and gasoline is derived from several different chemicals and can often vary greatly from batch to batch. Methanol contains approximately half the energy of gasoline per gallon, which means fewer miles per gallon, but not less power.
Flexible fuel vehicles
Flexible fuel vehicles known as FFVs can run on gasoline, alcohol or a combination of the two. Some vehicles operate on pure alcohol, but FFVs use alcohol blends for two prominent reasons. If you add a small amount of gas it makes it easier to start the vehicle in cold weather. Adding gasoline also makes it easier to see the flame, which makes it safer.
Electric vehicles
Electric vehicles have also been around for years. In fact, in the early 20th century, there were more electric cars than gasoline-powered models. Electric vehicles faded away though as cheap methods of producing gasoline were discovered. Also, a gas car could travel a lot farther than an electric vehicle. The electric vehicles of today run on the electricity that is in batteries. There may be up to two dozen batteries or more used to power the car. The cars have an electric motor which turns the wheels and uses a battery to operate the motor. The vehicles are typically plugged in at night into a special unit to recharge. Some of them are designed to plug into a regular wall outlet and others require a larger outlet. The batteries can be either lead acid batteries, or ni-cad (nickel-cadmium). More effective batteries that can contain more energy and last longer are now being developed.
