Fridae

2008 would go down in the history books as the first time in history that fuel prices have crossed the US$100 per barrel threshold. The United States Department of energy has disclosed a decline in petroleum reserves, the Middle East political instability and oil price speculation are few factors that are hurting motorists' pockets world wide.

Motor shows are always a spectacle for future motoring trends. The dramatic increase of fuel prices coupled with environment concerns have led to manufacturers to rethink of their future offerings. All major carmakers are steering themselves into the green movement. Ferrari unveiled a biofuel F430 prototype at the 2008 Detroit Motor Show in. The supercar runs on E85 fuel which comprises 85 percent petrol and 15 percent ethanol produced from a variety of feedstocks such as sugar cane, barley, wheat, grain or other organic compound.

Is the industry attempting to be repentant and readying the world to avoid another fuel crisis like the last one in the 1973?

What are our fueling options? Let's begin with petrol (or gasoline as it is commonly known in North America). Petrol is produced in oil refineries by distilling crude oil before being mixed with other chemicals. Petrol is used in cars as they are more refined and delivers higher performance. Petrol engines can be in three main forms: naturally aspirated, turbocharged or supercharged.

While a naturally aspirated engine does not rely on any induced forces to generate power, the turbocharged engine relies on exhaust gases to power its turbine driven supercharger and a supercharged engine uses a blower to power the compression device. Forced-induced engines are exploited by manufacturers to bring more power and reduced fuel consumption as engine capacity can be reduced and energy efficiency can be raised. For instance, the Volkswagen Golf GT has a 1.4 liter engine that is both supercharged and turbocharged. The supercharger takes care of things below 1750 rpm with the turbocharger taking over above that ensuring a linear delivery of power. It generates 170bhp and delivers 14km/l. Could downsizing the cubic capacity and coupling the engine with forced induction(s) be the future for greener petrol engines?

Diesel... the penny pinchers' choice?

Sticky and foul smelling diesel is typically associated with commercial vehicles in Singapore. However in Europe, more than 50 percent of new cars sold in Europe are powered by diesel. French born Rudolf Diesel is the man responsible for creating the diesel-powered engines in 1913. Back then, it held its own as a fuel efficient rival to both petrol engines and old-school steam engines.

A modern diesel engine today is usually turbo charged and would still emit a clattering sound on starting up the engine. However, a Euro IV compliant diesel engine would humiliate its petrol engine counterpart on every other front. It comes as no surprise as the diesel-engined makes are experiencing an upward swing in fortunes. For example, BMW 3-series's bestseller in Europe is the excellent 320D.

Comparison 320i Vs 320d (Both cars have manual transmission)

	Power	Torque	0-100km/h	Top-speed	Co2 emissions	Price
320i	150 bhp	200nm	9.0 secs	215 km	178 g/km	$139,800
320d	163 bhp	340nm	7.8 secs	220 km	153 g/km	N.A

A BMW 320D can deliver more power and torque while fuel consumption is 25 percent lower and emit lower CO2 emissions. Even the Americans are considering seriously about diesel-powered cars as they slowly chuck their "gas" guzzling SUVs away.

CNG, the bi-fuel option

Compressed Natural Gas can be used in conjunction with petrol burning engine. The composition diet of petrol and CNG could result in power loss on taking off and at the top-end. Such power loss can be mitigated as the level of CNG usage can be adjusted. The cost of installing the CNG conversion kit is estimated to start from S$3,600 however this can be offset by the low cost of CNG.

What about Leonardo DeCarpio's green (hybrid) hatch?

The hybrid vehicle is fueled by both a petrol engine and electrical power using a battery that recharges itself whenever the brakes are pressed, a process known as "generative braking."

The marketing people are highly successful in making many to believe that such vehicles can demonstrate the drivers' environmental awareness and social responsibility. The most notable of current hybrid cars on sale in the world include the Toyota Prius, Honda Civic hybrid and several Lexus models. These cars are equipped with nickel-ion batteries that are heavy in weight and many hybrid drivers have realised that they are not able to achieve the fuel consumption figures as stated in their product brochure. While the next generation of hybrids to be launched in 2009 would feature the lighter and more durable Lithium-ion batteries as manufacturers would have resolved the potential over heating problems, experts still believe that the hybrid car could be a stop-gap solution till a hydrogen fuel cell driven car arrives. It has been reported that the high levels of energy required to manufacture these cars and the sheer weight of some hybrid cars might in fact cause more harm than good to the environment than their marketing campaigns have suggested.

The more convincing hybrid; the hydrogen fuel cell car.

While other car makers are still holding their ground with Toyota's runaway success with their hybrid powered cars, Honda on the other hand has launched the world's first production hydrogen fuel cell car. A limited number of Honda's FCX Clarity is available for lease on a trial basis in California where there are only three re-fueling stations at the moment of writing. It uses hydrogen to make electricity, based on a reaction with oxygen from the atmosphere creating only water and electricity driving the electric motor. In essence, the hydrogen fuel cell car is still a hybrid, as it exploits by-products like storing energy recovered from braking into its lithium-ion battery. The battery helps the fuel cell when hard acceleration takes place. The major key to the success of any hydrogen-powered car is being able to re-fuel it.

Honda has looking into creating a home energy station, providing hydrogen fuel for the FCX Clarity and energy for home usage. Currently in its fourth incarnation, the home energy station is said to be able to save 50 percent in energy cost and cut CO2 emissions by 30 percent compared to current conventional electricity from the grid and petrol-powered cars.

Last Lap...

While technology is advancing to relegate using fuel, we can help to save fuel on a micro scale via adopting more frugal driving habits. For example, better driving judgment helps to avoid needless acceleration. Incidentally, road humps can raise fuel consumption by as much as 10 percent!

*Apparently taking hot showers can also be detrimental to the earth, as it wastes water and resources to heat it, how come enviro-panics are not attacking people who have (hot) showers?