Alt Fuels

Toyota hopes advances in design and parts sharing will cut the cost of fuel-cell vehicles.

Eight years ago, ethanol was going to let the U.S. grow its own vehicle fuel, reduce its use of gasoline made from imported oil, and boost energy security. How much have you heard about those themes lately? Not much, we'd wager. A lot has changed since the 2007 passage of the Energy Independence...

Hyundai announced this morning that it will unveil a new hydrogen fuel-cell concept vehicle, to be known as the Intrado, at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show in March. The Hyundai Intrado Concept will be constructed around a "super-lightweight structure" that employs a "mixture of advanced materials" that...

Suddenly, hydrogen fuel-cell cars are back in the news. Headlines have proclaimed a coming battle between plug-in electric cars and the new shining hope, hydrogen-powered vehicles. Three automakers--Honda, Hyundai, and Toyota--will offer fuel-cell cars to consumers by the end of 2015, albeit in...

Car production isn't the greenest of processes, but in recent decades many automakers have at least made attempts to reduce environmental impact--and General Motors is the latest to take a step towards improving it. The automaker has announced a $24 million investment in the use of landfill gas at...

The EPA may cut the amount of ethanol required to be blended with gasoline from the amount originally specified in a 2007 law.

It's frustrating driving a fuel-efficient vehicle sometimes. While you know you're just one small part of an effort to clean up transportation, seeing an 18-wheeler pumping clouds of black smoke into the air can make you feel like your efforts are going to waste. Cleaning up trucks should be a high...

The DOE has made its Alternative Fueling Station Locator into an app.

Automakers have fired the latest salvo in the ongoing battle against ethanol blends in gasoline, saying it can damage engine components. That's despite several manufacturers approving it for use in their newest vehicles--adding to the confusion over ethanol in pump gasoline. According to The...

Toyota is serious about hydrogen fuel cell cars, and to prove it the company will unveil a new fuel cell concept at the upcoming Tokyo Motor Show. Called the FCV, Toyota's new concept is the clearest hint at what its fuel cell production car--due in 2015--might look like. It's certainly less...

Home refueling could help natural-gas cars gain mainstream appeal, but first the price will have to come down.

In case you hadn't noticed, it's Halloween. So how could we not comment on an article whose byline reads Gore and Blood? Their topic may be slightly esoteric, but it has big implications for our energy future. It's all about stranded assets--those that lose economic value well ahead of their...

The disappearance of internal-combustion engines is far from inevitable today, but several groups and governments are now predicting when the last gasoline vehicles will be sold. The latest prediction comes from a particularly unlikely source: Shell Oil Company, one of the largest petroleum...

One way to make vehicle fuels greener is to grow them--and it appears that biodiesel may have plenty of potential. Like the feedstocks for ethanol, the plant oils refined into biodiesel are grown, rather than extracted from the ground. But being lumped into the same bucket as ethanol is worrying...

Last Thursday, the governors of eight [blue] states pledged to cooperate toward a goal of putting 3.3 million zero-emission vehicles on their roads by 2025. The cooperative programs are meant to make it easier for their citizens to buy and use zero-emission vehicles. While the steps cited so far in...

Natural gas flaring in North Dakota may be wasting revenue and harming the environment.

Natural gas has so far made little impact in the automotive sector, at least when it comes to passenger vehicles. As new extraction techniques such as fracking increase domestic supply of the gas, that could change--and Chevrolet will become the second manufacturer to sell a production passenger...

The hydrogen ball rolled a little further in California last week. The Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development--GO-Biz for short--has now announced plans to streamline the permitting process for hydrogen and electric fueling stations. It's the latest move to prepare the state for...

The Tata Nano CNG emax can switch between gasoline and natural gas on the fly.

Cruze buyers will soon be able to choose from three fuels, but one of them requires an aftermarket conversion.