This book sheds light on three essential questions: 1. What is the likely supply of gasoline and diesel from oil worldwide to power light vehicles and trucks through 2030-2035? 2. Could any other fuel economically replace gasoline? Will different parts of the world answer that question differently? 3. How will the answers to these questions affect what we engineer, make, and drive in 2030–2035? As difficult as it is to predict timing of these events, the book presents reasonable assumptions and alternative scenarios. Since a switch to alternative technologies will require substantial investment, it is critical to have a sense of when. Despite the global reach of the automotive industry, it is unlikely that a solution for one region will fit all. A more reasonable goal is a set of projected ‘ecosystems’ using differing amounts of oil, electricity, or alternative fuels. From this, automotive managers and leaders can get a sense of how to make business decisions for the future. To frame comparisons, the author qualitatively assesses each alternative against these criteria: 1. energy density 2. scale 3. efficiency of use 4. consumer convenience 5. vehicle technical maturity 6. delivery infrastructure maturity 7. production infrastructure maturity 8. rate of progress Some alternative fuels will naturally be higher in some categories than others. For example, gasoline has higher energy density but when burned in internal combustion engines, has low efficiency. Batteries, on the other hand, have low energy density but are efficient for powering electric motors. For mapping out a long-term future and deciding how best to invest resources, a comparison of these critical criteria should help. The book is concisely written for executives, decision-makers, academics, automotive engineers and others who want or need a long-range view of trends that will influence vehicle fuels for the next 20 years.

The first two editions of this title, published by SAE International in 1990 and 1995, have been best-selling definitive references for those needing technical information about automotive fuels. This long-awaited new edition has been thoroughly revised and updated, yet retains the original fundamental fuels information that readers find so useful. This book is written for those with an interest in or a need to understand automotive fuels. Because automotive fuels can no longer be developed in isolation from the engines that will convert the fuel into the power necessary to drive our automobiles, knowledge of automotive fuels will also be essential to those working with automotive engines. Small quantities of fuel additives increasingly play an important role in bridging the gap that often exists between fuel that can easily be produced and fuel that is needed by the ever-more sophisticated automotive engine. This book pulls together in a single, extensively referenced volume, the three different but related topics of automotive fuels, fuel additives, and engines, and shows how all three areas work together. It includes a brief history of automotive fuels development, followed by chapters on automotive fuels manufacture from crude oil and other fossil sources. One chapter is dedicated to the manufacture of automotive fuels and fuel blending components from renewable sources. The safe handling, transport, and storage of fuels, from all sources, are covered. New combustion systems to achieve reduced emissions and increased efficiency are discussed, and the way in which the fuels’ physical and chemical characteristics affect these combustion processes and the emissions produced are included. There is also discussion on engine fuel system development and how these different systems affect the corresponding fuel requirements. Because the book is for a global market, fuel system technologies that only exist in the legacy fleet in some markets are included. The way in which fuel requirements are developed and specified is discussed. This covers test methods from simple laboratory bench tests, through engine testing, and long-term test procedures.

Alternative Fuels and Advanced Vehicle Technologies for Improved Environmental Performance: Towards Zero Carbon Transportation, Second Edition provides a comprehensive view of key developments in advanced fuels and vehicle technologies to improve the energy efficiency and environmental impact of the automotive sector. Sections consider the role of alternative fuels such as electricity, alcohol and hydrogen fuel cells, as well as advanced additives and oils in environmentally sustainable transport. Other topics explored include methods of revising engine and vehicle design to improve environmental performance and fuel economy and developments in electric and hybrid vehicle technologies. This reference will provide professionals, engineers and researchers of alternative fuels with an understanding of the latest clean technologies which will help them to advance the field. Those working in environmental and mechanical engineering will benefit from the detailed analysis of the technologies covered, as will fuel suppliers and energy producers seeking to improve the efficiency, sustainability and accessibility of their work. - Provides a fully updated reference with significant technological advances and developments in the sector - Presents analyses on the latest advances in electronic systems for emissions control, autonomous systems, artificial intelligence and legislative requirements - Includes a strong focus on updated climate change predictions and consequences, helping the reader work towards ambitious 2050 climate change goals for the automotive industry

This book sheds light on three essential questions: 1. What is the likely supply of gasoline and diesel from oil worldwide to power light vehicles and trucks through 2030-2035? 2. Could any other fuel economically replace gasoline? Will different parts of the world answer that question differently? 3. How will the answers to these questions affect what we engineer, make, and drive in 2030–2035? As difficult as it is to predict timing of these events, the book presents reasonable assumptions and alternative scenarios. Since a switch to alternative technologies will require substantial investment, it is critical to have a sense of when. Despite the global reach of the automotive industry, it is unlikely that a solution for one region will fit all. A more reasonable goal is a set of projected ‘ecosystems’ using differing amounts of oil, electricity, or alternative fuels. From this, automotive managers and leaders can get a sense of how to make business decisions for the future. To frame comparisons, the author qualitatively assesses each alternative against these criteria: 1. energy density 2. scale 3. efficiency of use 4. consumer convenience 5. vehicle technical maturity 6. delivery infrastructure maturity 7. production infrastructure maturity 8. rate of progress Some alternative fuels will naturally be higher in some categories than others. For example, gasoline has higher energy density but when burned in internal combustion engines, has low efficiency. Batteries, on the other hand, have low energy density but are efficient for powering electric motors. For mapping out a long-term future and deciding how best to invest resources, a comparison of these critical criteria should help. The book is concisely written for executives, decision-makers, academics, automotive engineers and others who want or need a long-range view of trends that will influence vehicle fuels for the next 20 years.

Considerable work has gone into electric car and battery development in the last ten years, with the prospect of substantial improvements in range and performance in battery cars as well as in hybrids and those using fuel cells. This book covers the development of electric cars, from their early days, to new hybrid models in production. Most of the coverage is focused on the very latest technological issues faced by automotive engineers working on electric cars, as well as the key business factors vital for the successful transfer of electric cars into the mass market.

Lately it has become a matter of conventional wisdom that hydrogen will solve many of our energy and environmental problems. Nearly everyone -- environmentalists, mainstream media commentators, industry analysts, General Motors, and even President Bush -- seems to expect emission-free hydrogen fuel cells to ride to the rescue in a matter of years, or at most a decade or two. Not so fast, says Joseph Romm. In The Hype about Hydrogen, he explains why hydrogen isn't the quick technological fix it's cracked up to be, and why cheering for fuel cells to sweep the market is not a viable strategy for combating climate change. Buildings and factories powered by fuel cells may indeed become common after 2010, Joseph Romm argues, but when it comes to transportation, the biggest source of greenhouse-gas emissions, hydrogen is unlikely to have a significant impact before 2050. The Hype about Hydrogen offers a hype-free explanation of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies, takes a hard look at the practical difficulties of transitioning to a hydrogen economy, and reveals why, given increasingly strong evidence of the gravity of climate change, neither government policy nor business investment should be based on the belief that hydrogen cars will have meaningful commercial success in the near or medium term. Romm, who helped run the federal government's program on hydrogen and fuel cells during the Clinton administration, provides a provocative primer on the politics, business, and technology of hydrogen and climate protection.

In October 1975, while the United States was still acutely feeling the aftermath of the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo, the General Motors Research Laboratories held its nineteenth annual symposium. The proceedings of this timely symposium on "Future Automotive Fuels - Prospects, Performance, and Perspective" are reported in this book. We hope that it will serve not only as a permanent record of the papers and discussions, but also as a stimulus and inspiration for ideas, research, and development in the vital field of automotive fuels. The economy of the United States and the lifestyle of her people are woven together with energy into a unique fabric. Reducing the energy content of this fabric weakens it and can even destroy it. The Oil Embargo stunningly demonstrated how easy it is to attack this fabric, and exposed for all to see its greatest weaknes- reliance on imported petroleum. Since petroleum is the only current source of automotive fuels, and cars and trucks consume about 43 percent of the petroleum used in the United States, the Oil Embargo had its most profound and dramatic on automotive transportation: First there were long lines at service stations, impact and then idle lines in car assembly plants and long lines at unemployment offices. Against this grim setting, we planned the symposium on automotive fuels for the future.