Is there any substitute for petrol?????

Answer 1

the august clown has got it right.
any liquid that can burn can power a car.
you can actually design a car that runs on steam power
and power it using wood(something like a steam engine but without the tracks).
God bless,
gabe

Answer 2

The straight answer to your question is yes. However, I must point out that all substitutes to date (which can be mass produced), actually consume more energy to produce then they yield. During WWII, the Germans developed coal liquefaction to turn coal into gasoline, diesel etc. Not because it was more efficient, but because we cut off their oil supply and they had an abundance of coal. People are going to argue that Natural gas and LP don't require a lot of energy to produce. And they're right. The problem with NG and LP is that there is a HUGE powere loss in a gasoline engine after the conversion, then add the heavy *** pressurized fuel tank and you have a real dog of a vehicle which now gets the equivalent gas mileage of a Lamborghini. Looks like hydrogen is our best hope, but its not going to be available tomorrow. It really depends on your motivation to replace petrol. If its political some of the aforementioned alternatives might be viable. If it's environmental concern forget it. Anything else out there is going to create more pollution through the increased energy consumed in production.

Answer 3

Yes. During World War II, people used a number of things as substitutes for gasoline including methane, propane, hydrogen, grain and/or wood alcohol. Just about any liquid or gas that burns can power a vehicle, you just had to adjust the size of the hole in the nozzle. Now of course you would also have to reprogram the vehicles computer to adjust for the different burn rate and oxygen mixture.

Somehow, auto manufacturers have forgotten how to do this since the 1940s, and now must receive large government grants to try to remember.

Answer 4

petrol is a fuel which is heated and that thermal energy is converted to mechanical energy to do work. there are plenty of subsitues like kerosene, coal, diesel, etc. all fuels are a substitute for it. but the efficiency of engine goes down and the pollution increases by using these alternatives. that is the reason petrol is widely used.