Gasoline substitute?
 

Since most of us have been complaining about the gas prices (i know i have) does anyone have a better cheaper idea of fuel?? I know their are gas electric hybrids and hydrogen hybrids but is that realistic? their has to be a better way.


Any thoughts?

Re: Gasoline substitute?
 

I have no idea if it is so much realistic, but a team of researchers have developed a way to utilize all the grease that is extracted from french fries in the cooking process. Give or take 10 years, and we should have an efficient source of energy that has lower emission levels and low costs.

Re: Gasoline substitute?
 

Yes. there's a guy who made his car run on grease. so when he needs a fill-up, he goes to his local McDonalds.

Re: Gasoline substitute?
 

I saw this when it first occured, and now it has grown to be bigger. I recently saw a news story talking about some cars that have a little converter in them that makes them hybrids between gas and grease with the flip of a switch. The grease, in fact, can be found for free because many resteraunts are happy to give it away, because disposing of it actually costs them money.

Re: Gasoline substitute?
 

He definitely doesn't have to worry about refueling. Sometimes it's easier to find a McDonalds than a gas station! :D

There's also a more refined low sulfur diesel fuel coming out in the U.S. in another year or so. There won't be as much black soot with this as with the other diesel. Some car manufactures are also tweaking diesel engines to make them quieter more like gas engines. Diesel gets more miles to the gallon than gas unfortunately not every gas station offers diesel.
There are propane and hydrogen vehicles on the road. Most of these vehicles are fleet vehicles and there's currently almost no fueling facility for these vehicles other than thier "home base" or at the companys that own them. A lot of the UPS trucks near me are propane but they're only refilled at the UPS lot because gas stations aren't equipped to handle these types of vehicles. The gas stations can only handle refilling 20# barbecue tanks. The propane motors in these trucks are Chevy Vortec 6 cylinders converted for propane, and also is the same motor used in some forklifts.
There's also fuel cells but this technology is currently too new to be applied to vehicles in mass production and is mostly limited to electrical power generation. Next to where I work is a fuel cell plant and they laid off half thier workforce because of the lack of contracts. I personally don't see fuel cells taking off anytime soon.

Re: Gasoline substitute?
 

Actually, iirc, the grease gas is technically called biodiesel. They're diesel cars, which can be run on veggie oil with some chemistry. (There are straight veggie oil cars out there, but they're far more complicated and costly.)

Re: Gasoline substitute?
 

Hey Billfred, I'm surprised you didn't mention scooters as a alternate transportation option after your big race this week. :rolleyes:

Re: Gasoline substitute?
 

Well, I would've--if I'd won. (I'm not crushed.)

I guess the prior talk just had me in a four-wheels-and-doors mindset. (whistle innocently).

By the way, I wouldn't advise taking a gas scooter (like a stand-up one, not a moped) and making it a push scooter. That's what we had to race on--and those things are a beast to handle!

Re: Gasoline substitute?
 

But does the grease and oil affect the proformance of a vehicle? Like the different grades of gasoline?

Re: Gasoline substitute?
 

Actucally - it reacts exactly like a diesel - I have read about it - and even GM is looking into it (I work for a GM Dealership) and it just gets warm off the Regular Diesel fuel than after a certian temp you can (litterally) flip the switch to vegatible oil. The designers of the kit claims that what ever you cooked last the exhaust will smell like it (sorta). Like diesel - it just compresses it until it spontaniously combusts.

http://www.greasel.com/ - Great Information regarding this conversation. I can't wait until we can burn this and we all can smell that KK smell from the rear ends of our vehicles! :D

Re: Gasoline substitute?
 

I remeber someone telling me that diesel engines were orignally designed to run on biofuel. Ahh I was correct. The diesel engine was orignally designed to run on peanut oil. Hmm.... I remeber my friend calculated the amount of peanut oil needed to run the entire United States. He said we'd probably need to invade Mexico to plant enough peanuts for our energy needs. (it was a social studies project)

Re: Gasoline substitute?
 

Or we can do the back to the future thing and run off our own garbage. And it didn't seem to hurt the preformance of the vehicle. LOL

But seriously i did see something about the gases prduced by landfills that could and does fuel a vehicle. Some of the Waste Management trucks run off this stuff. I though it was pretty cool.

Re: Gasoline substitute?
 

Baiscally a Natural-Gas vehicle. You actucally run off of compressed natural gas. It's been around for a while. I've even serviced a few of them...

Re: Gasoline substitute?
 

I think for inner city travel, depending on whether or not the city is near your house, use a bike. As for highway travel where you need a car, a hydrogen fuel cell powered car is in my mind the best alternative, and probably the ultimate future. It is certainly realistic, considering almost anything over time has gotten cheaper and more accessable.