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Alternative vehicle fuels

There are various alternative vehicle fuels available on the market today. Unlike gasoline or diesel these fuels are more environmentally friendly and most vehicles can be converted to run on these fuels.

Some car manufacturers including Honda, Toyota, GMC, have vehicles available from new that are designed to run on alternative fuels, and more models are becoming available as the demand for this type of transport increases.

What Is an Alternative Fuel Vehicle?
Alternative fuel vehicles include any dedicated, flexible-fuel, or dual-fuel vehicle designed to operate on at least one alternative fuel. Alternative fuel vehicles come in a variety of vehicle models such as sedans, pickup trucks, vans, shuttle buses, delivery trucks. buses, and heavy-duty trucks.

What Alternative Fuels Are Available?
The main types of alternative fuels available for vehicles include:

Electric-Electric Vehicles (EVs) come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Because their range (approximately 80 miles) is limited by weight, construction, and the type of battery used, they are particularly well suited to short distance, high use applications-like delivery vehicles. Batteries and other energy storage devices are used to store the electricity that powers the electric motor in the vehicle, these batteries must be replenished by plugging the vehicle into a power source

Some EVs have on-board chargers; others plug into a charger located outside the vehicle, but both must use electricity from the power grid to replenish the battery. Although electricity production may contribute to air pollution, an EV is a zero emission vehicle and its motor produces no exhaust or emissions.

Natural Gas- There are two main types of natural gas vehicles, Dedicated natural gas vehicles (NGVs) which run only on natural gas and bi-fuel NGVs that have two separate fuelling systems that enable the vehicle to use either natural gas or gasoline and diesel. Dedicated Natural gas vehicles mainly have better performance and have lower emissions than bi-fuel vehicles because their engines are optimized to run on natural gas. In addition, the vehicle does not have to carry two types of fuel, thereby increasing load capacity and diminishing weight.

You can convert your current vehicle to natural gas by using one of the many conversion systems that are now available. Adequate training is required to operate and maintain natural gas vehicles due to them being different from gasoline or diesel vehicles. Natural gas vehicles are just as safe as today's conventional gasoline and diesel vehicles. They use pressurized tanks, which are designed to withstand severe impact, high external temperatures, and environmental exposure.

Approximately one in every five new transit buses in the United States is now powered by natural gas.

Propane (LPG)- Propane, also known as liquefied petroleum gas has been used in vehicles since the 1920's. Currently there are around 9Million vehicles worldwide using PLG as fuel. It is a popular fuel with transport companies who operate large fleets of trucks. Because of its clean burning properties it is a good choice for indoor use in vehicles like forklifts and loaders.

Tests on light-duty, bi-fuel vehicles have demonstrated a 98% reduction in the emissions of pollutants, including benzene, formaldehyde, and acetaldehyde, when the vehicles were running on propane rather than gasoline.

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