Why aren't alternate fuel powered vehicles introduced in the market rather than screaming on climate change?

Question

By using the abundant solar energy or by using hydrogen powered vehicles we can cut down on green house gas emissions. What is holding in the way of introducing these green powered vehicles?

Answer 1

The problem with introducing the vehicles to the market is that there are not many places one can refuel.

If the nearest facility to get fuel is a hundred miles away from your home, would you invest in a hydrogen powered car? Manufacturers will not want to spend time and money building these cars if there is no one out there who will buy them.

If we are to see the increased use of these vehicles, it will me in the commercial vehicle market, such as bus and shuttle systems, delivery truck fleets and such. For these applications, the operators of these fleets may find it economical to build their own fueling stations to keep the fleets rolling.

This is how many natural gas powered fleets were introduced. You can now find airport shuttle bus and city bus systems running these vehicles. They fuel up at natural gas pumps, built on the agency's site. As a result, some taxicab companies, that operate in or near the airports, run some natural gas cars and vans.

Still, the demand from the public to buy private vehicles of these types is low.

Answer 2

To reverse the effects of global warming currently is beyond our capabilities. Although switching to hydrogen/electric cars will greatly reduce outputs of greenhouse gases, there are many other sources that cannot be replaced with our current technology level. One example of this is electric power generation. The best solution to this is fusion power, which unfortunately is proving to be quite elusive. Fission power is an alternative, however, there are waste problems associated with it. Other forms of alternative energy promise hope, but they do not provide near the amount of power that we currently use and definately do not provide enough if electric cars replace internal combustion. Other forms of emissions that often go overlooked are from the refinement of oil. Even if all oil consumption from cars is eliminated, there are still large amounts required for such items as plastics and acetylene. How serious is the problem? When I was growing up, there were commercials on TV showing an American Indian crying because we were destroying the environment. 30+ years later, very little has changed for the positive, much for the negative. We are destroying the only place we have to live at an accelerating rate. If that doesn't put the problem into perspective, then probably nothing will. What should we do to get the word out? Tough question with no easy answer. If there was an easy answer, it would have already been done. If you feel this is a serious issue, which it surely is, then do the one thing that the upcoming 4th of July holiday has given you...write your elected representatives and let them know how you feel, about this and all subjects that concern you. During elections, vote for the people that stand for what you believe in, and if you feel no one does that then become politically active and run for office yourself. One person can make a difference and if no one does before long, then it won't matter because we will have gone the way of the dinosaur.

Answer 3

What is holding them is two things. They cost too much and the alternate fuel is not is large enough supply. Ethanol cars are just as cheap as regular cars but are not popular because there is not enough ethanol. Solar cars are impossible in the form of a panel on the roof of the car running it because less than 5hp of sunlight hits the car and the best (and most expensive) solar cells at 20% efficiency can only make 1hp from it. Who would want a 1hp car that would be very expensive? Hydrogen is a bad choice because it is too difficult to store hydrogen in something as small as a car. And like ethanol, there is not enough hydrogen in the world. And don't say you can make it from water. You can, but you get less energy by burning the hydrogen than it takes to make it from water, so doing it that way is just a waste of energy.

Answer 4

If I am screaming it is because the likes of GM don't listen to potential customers (me) and actually CRUSHED all their perfectly good alternative fuel cars, despite the customer satisfaction and demand.
http://www.whokilledtheelectriccar.com


And then hold the threat of the "Volt" over anyone who thinks they can set-up a viable mass market electric vehicle in competition.
Look at all the advertising buget they put into getting us to buy thier clunky, smelly, high-maintenace, noisy, expensive last century technology offerings, dependent on supplies of increasingly scarce fuel from increasingly unstable or environmentally sensitive parts of the world.
Regardless of climate change, EVs are just a better driving/lifestyle experience

I want my electric car now!


PS there is sufficient capacity in our national grids to meet our driving needs, refuel at home and improve the power utilisation because can be charged off-peak; or you can have your own micro-generator for full autonomy http://www.acpropulsion.com/reports/ACP_ENV2001.htm
http://www.teslamotors.com

Answer 5

Solar technology is not efficient enough to power an entire car, and hydrogen technology is not advanced enough to be used in cars (and won't be for at least 2 more decades).

It's not like people have invented these cars and are just sitting around twiddling their thumbs. People are working on alternative fuel technologies all the time, but few are advanced enough at this point. The most promising are electric vehicles:

http://www.zapworld.com/electric-vehicles

Answer 6

i agree with what you are saying entirely.by now with all this technolgy you would think that car manufacturers would have come up with more alternative powered vehicles .also cheap enough for us to afford.further more i personally do not believe that it would do any good to have electrical powered cars.could you imagine the electricity consumed to charge up all the cars on our highways,the fuel companies i think are part of the scenario as they invest vast sums of cash exploring for oil.so they dont want hybrids etc.this is a really good question and should be explored further.

Answer 7

It is not easy for any company to relese so early.. There is no proper infrastructure which supports such development.. It might take time to build refueling stations.. Such changes are obvious but wil take time.. And even these cars are of 1st generation, they use more energy but does not emmit any gas.. many R&D is taking place n b sure tat u r the 1 who purchase it 1st...

Answer 8

The vehicles are there, heck you can already buy the Liquid Hydrogen powered BMW
( http://jaylenosgarage.com/video/index.shtml?vidID=156664 ...problem is, nowhere to get the fuel.
Bio fuels like ethanol and Bio Diesel have very small and scatter dirstribution.
Like having a gun with no bullets.

Answer 9

Primarily because there are no designs yet that have proved to be Practical, Cost effective, or safe enough to sell enough of them.
Solar - not enough power per sq. ft. from the sun
Electrical - Expensive, short range, and increases power plant power
Hydrogen - Safety, cost of conversion high, engine design.

Answer 10

Electric vehicles are already in market they can be charged on normal electric sockets.
These cars can also be charged thu Solar panels mounted on building roofs, pretty soon there will be charging stations using Solar PV power.

they are not widespread yet but available and pretty soone will be used all over.