is there ANY WAY to change my Honda element to an more earth friendly car? when I mean any way, I mean ANY WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hate gas cars, and am frikin pissed that that is what i have.
2007-12-19 16:34:21 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous in Environment ➔ Alternative Fuel Vehicles
Ask your mechanic how much it would cost to convert your car to flex-fuel capability. But you might want to find out about local ethanol availability first. Otherwise, you'll just have to trade out your powerplant for an electric or diesel configuration.
2007-12-19 17:04:04 · answer #1 · answered by Michelle C 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hmm, you can sell it and buy a diesel. A lot more diesels are coming out this year. They kinda stopped making diesel cars because they knew EPA was about to change the diesel smog laws, which they did in early 2007.
Converting it to ethanol, well, you can't make it pass smog, and ethanol isn't very environmentally friendly anyway. (burning 6 pounds of fossil fuels to make 8 pounds of ethanol - not good.)
Converting it to diesel is waaaay too much work, and also illegal under smog laws. You can only do a diesel engine swap into a model/year of car that was available with a diesel. So VW Beetle yes, Honda no.
So yeah it sucks, but your best bet is sell it and buy a diesel and run biodiesel.
Well, you could convert it to electric (or hybrid electric with a little Thermo King diesel generator onboard)... but that's even more work yet. Though, by far the coolest :)
2007-12-20 01:05:12 · answer #2 · answered by Wolf Harper 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ethanol sucks compared to the amount of energy gasoline produces. Gasoline produces 114,100 BTUs per gallon while 100% ethanol produces a mere 76,100 BTUs per gallon. (If you don't know what a BTU is or what it stands for get your A** out of the energy debate.) The point is, gasoline is the one of the most efficient energy sources for cars, seconded by Diesel (129,800 BTUs Bio-diesel is not as good). Electricity is probably the most efficient fuel but batteries aren't that good yet. To answer your question about converting your Honda, it would be cheaper to get a diesel car (and more environmentally friendly.) Burning diesel requires a different type of engine because diesel uses glow plugs and not spark plugs.
2007-12-20 17:12:42 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
If you hate gas cars, then use alternative transportation - bus, train, bicycle. those are all more earth friendly.
if you were so angry, why did you buy a vehicle to begin with? Nobody forced you to buy a vehicle. Sell it and discover other ways - you may have to move or change jobs - perhaps to Chicago, which has a great rail system, or Toronto which has a great bus / subway system - live close to the city so you can take advantage of what is available.
Ranting doesn't really help - although I know it feels good for a while - but then you have to stop and take action.
2007-12-22 06:07:05 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If your car runs on diesel chances are that it can run on bio-diesel, it can safely take B20.
If its a petrol car then it can take about 5-10%ethanol mix safely which means that out of 100 gallons gasoline about 5-10 can be ethanol.
If you have bio-diesel available then getting a diesel engine could be best option as its the most economical bio-fuel today.
2007-12-19 17:14:00 · answer #5 · answered by funnysam2006 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes there is. The difference between a car that cannot burn ethanol and one that can is quite small. There are 25 models of American made flex fuel cars on sale now in the U.S., but they are mostly big vehicles. The Japanese do not make flex fuel cars as far as I know. The conversion of an existing car could be done but maybe not easily.
2007-12-20 06:04:36 · answer #6 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are not one but MANY ways to convert your car to friendly fuels. Probably the most easy one is to have your fuel injection system and Engine Control Module (the engine's "brain") modified to burn 100% ethanol or other alcohol. The engine itself could care less what you burn, it's the fancy fuel management stuff that needs to be told how to deliver it.
Another is to do away with the fuel injection altogether and use a vaporizer, which is a carburettor for use with propane. Although propane is petroleum based, it burns extremely clean. This conversion would be pretty simple and cheap compared to the others.
And last but certainly not least, you could rip everything out from the hood and put in a diesel engine, such as a modern Volkswagen TDI. Of course you would need custom motor mounts and a new transmission, but hey, that would be cool!
2007-12-19 19:33:43 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
I assume you are talking about burning ethanol? Ethanol is not a "friendly fuel". Increased production has already cause the price of food to rise because the corn is being used to produce a "fuel" which is not as efficient as petroleum, which means you have to use more of it to get the same output. It takes more petroleum energy to produce ethanol than the petroleum it is supposed to be replacing. If you don't like having a car that runs on petroleum, take the bus.
2007-12-20 10:20:54 · answer #8 · answered by Wiz 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
a great style of GM engines have been converted to diesel for the time of the gas shortages of the 1970's. the tip result became that they had considerable mechanical issues. The ingredients used in gas engines are designed to have the gas ignited by a spark. they are actually not stable sufficient to stand up to compressing the diesel until it ignites. It takes greater suitable grade factors for a diesel engine. yet once you nevertheless want to purpose it, scrounge around the previous junk yards, you probable will hit upon a GM diesel conversion kit.
2016-11-23 16:44:39 · answer #9 · answered by marconi 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
got to the nearest Authentic car repair Center And see If U an get Ur Car Compatible wid Another Engine.....Which might support bio diesel
2007-12-19 16:42:22 · answer #10 · answered by Take it easy 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋