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Thegreencarwebsite.co.uk Finds The Fuel Of The Future


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STOCKPORT, United Kingdom - December 17, 2008: It is a question that no one seems to have a definitive answer for. Just which fuel will take the place of fossil fuels in the future?

Even the car manufacturers seem to be hedging their bets. Toyota, Chevrolet and Nissan are focusing on hybrids with the potential for the introduction of full electric vehicles in the future. Saab on the other hand, seem to be expecting biofuels to take the lead with the development of its BioPower range and the concept BioHybrids which use biofuels and hybrid battery technology. While Honda has taken the lead in the hydrogen field with the FCX Clarity followed by BMW with the BMW Hydrogen 7 saloon.

Green car advisory website, TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk polled the opinion of 1025* website visitors to ask what they believed to be the ultimate fuel of the future on which our cars will run.

The surprising winner was electricity; with 40 per cent of the vote. The flexibility that electricity offers perhaps was the leading attraction, after all electricity is a medium of energy transfer and can come from any originating source. Potentially the electricity used to charge our cars could be generated from anything from ordinary fossil fuels to household waste or tidal power. This should please the government, as Mr. Brown has said that electric cars should play a leading part in the UK’s pledge to cut carbon emissions. At the G8 summit in Japan, Gordon Brown said he wanted wants all new cars sold in Britain to be electric or hybrid by 2020.

The recent report from the Committee on Climate Change entitled ‘Building a low-carbon economy - the UK's contribution to tackling climate change’ ** which was published on 1st December 2008, stated that the UK should invest in the development of electric cars couple with the decarbonisation of electricity generation as part of a list measures designed to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases.

Hydrogen took second place with 28 per cent of the votes. Hydrogen has been widely acclaimed as a hopeful replacement to fossil fuels as it is able to offer a similar performance to that of a conventional fossil-fuelled car. Honda’s FCX Clarity has a driving range 280 miles driving range for the slightly longer than the driving range of the Telsa Roadster at 220 miles. Plus hydrogen fuelled vehicles can be instantly refuelled unlike electric vehicles which require a waiting period to recharge. However hydrogen technology is currently still being refined while problems such as generation and storage along with the supporting infrastructure are still being addressed.

Hybrid technology offers the convenience of a fossil-fuelled with the cleanliness of an electric motor in urban driving conditions and took third place with 12 per cent of the vote. While the second-generation of biofuels (characterised by fuels such as algae or biomass) languished in fourth position with just 9 per cent. Faye Sunderland, editor of TheGreenCarWebsite says:

“Electric vehicles offer a comparatively ready way to begin running greener cars. While there are issues with the time it takes to recharge, driving range and heavy battery technology, there are already electric vehicles running happily on our roads.

“Our poll shows that the UK population have warmly received the idea of running electric vehicles, wooed by the thought of no-direct emissions and quiet running motors. Hydrogen technology which came in at second place is still a little way off before we can reasonably expect to be running a respectable number of our vehicles on it.”