Alternative energy cars: which are ready available?

Question

Could you give examples: biodiesel, hybrid, electric, alcohol, etc.

Answer 1

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If you want an electric car, you have quite a few choices!
If you can spend LOTS of money, there's the Tesla - it's the ultimate electric car - The Tesla outperforms most sports cars, but will cost you close to $100000:
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http://www.teslamotors.com
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If you have about $25,000 to spend, there's the NMG (no more gas) vehicle:
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http://www.myersmotors.com/
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Or if you can wait until next year, there's a really neat Chinese import called the XS200. It gets 200 miles per charge, and goes 80mph. It costs only $28500.
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http://www.milesautomotive.com/products_xs200.html
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If you've only got $10,000, and you don't need to get on the freeway, there's the ZAP:
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http://www.zapworld.com//cars/xebra.asp
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But if you want to do freeways, but haven't got much money, there's a bunch of used EVs, hobbyist-built EVs, and converted gas vehicles for sale at places like this:
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http://www.grassrootsev.com/convert.htm
and http://www.austinev.org/evtradinpost/
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Conversions of gas vehicles are done by GrassRootsEV above, and also by:
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http://www.leftcoastconversions.com/index.php
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6063682615
http://labshelf.com/electric-car-conversion.html
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You can also look on eBay. I bought a used EV on eBay for about $2000, and spent another $4000 to fix it up. Most of these used EVs are old technology, which means a 50-mile range, not a 100-mile range. But I still drive mine almost everywhere. It charges from any outlet. My electricity cost is just a little over 1 cent per mile. Beat that!
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Answer 2

Most any diesel vehicle can be run on some blend of biodiesel or be converted to use it.
http://www.biodiesel.org/

There are many gasoline/electrics hybrids available today (even more in Japan than in the US), with more on the way:
http://www.hybridcars.com/

Sadly, all of the production EVs from the major manufacturers are no longer being produced, and with the exception of the Toyota Rav4EV I think nearly all of the others have been crushed rather than letting the public continue to lease or own them...

There are several flex-fuel (E85) vehicles around, but depending on where you are filling stations may be hard to find (there's none in the 6 New England states, for example, even though several state governments are REQUIRED to purchase them as alt-fueled vehicles...)
http://www.e85fuel.com/

There are also CNG models available, but I think with the exception of the Honda Civic most are only sold to fleets.

There is also a handful of fuel-cell vehicles available, but they are cost-prohibitive to the average consumer currently, and only limited fueling stations.

You can get an idea of the non-gasoline/diesel vehicles available (and some of the hybrids) by reading the CARB approved list of ILEVs and 45MPG+ SULEV hybrids at:
http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/carpool/carpool.htm

Fuel economy information for cars sold in the US that do not require gasoline/diesel:
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/byfuel/byfueltypeNF.shtml

Answer 3

Here in Latvia, it's possible to remake your car so it can drive with natural gas or propane. After remake car can use gasoline or propane (it's possible to switch between the while driving). It's at least 2 times cheaper than gasoline and of course more nature friendly.
I've also heard that production of biodiesel/biofuel has started but for now, biofuel/biodiesel stations aren't widely spread (actually I have seen only few)

Answer 4

Hybrids are the only affodable alternantive, all the info you will need is here: http://www.hybridcars.com/

If you have a lot of money check out all electric sports cars at: teslamotors.com

Answer 5

In Brazil the government stepped in and their gas consumption had gone way down. They gave incentives to find and use alternative fuels. The Brazilians use sugar cane. They make cars that use only gas or only the alternative or a mixture of the two. You only have to turn a switch in case you are somewhere that only sells one kind of fuel

Answer 6

we have electric cars a few years back, but that just turned out to be absolutely terrible, there is just nowhere to charge the car. there are also hydrogen cars, but there is just not enough funding for that research. it takes a lot of energy to split apart a hydrogen compound. the only thing wrong with hybrid cars is that you can't carry heavy loads, petroleum has a lot of energy involved, so you can drive trucks, vans, and s.u.v. solar cars just dont work.

Answer 7

Electric (in India)

Answer 8

Hybrid rocks!...they are available!