ALTERNATIVE FUELS FACE CHALLENGES

With gasoline prices seeming to stabilize and fuel-economy measures taking hold, is there a compelling need for alternative fuels? Automotive engineers offer some surprising reasons why there is.

Oil companies are opening vast new reserves using hydraulic fracking technology. At the same time, fuel-efficiency measures seem to be taking hold, with drivers in North America using less gasoline and diesel. Vehicle refueling stations and the existing vehicle fleet are ill-equipped to accept much more ethanol.

Is it time to write off future development in alternative fuels? Not in the least, but the reasons for using alternatives are growing more complex. As Ron Graves, Director, Sustainable Transportation Programs at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) told Automotive Engineering, there are restrictive U.S. EPA Tier 3 emissions regulations looming, as well as the international motivation to reduce CO₂ emissions through even better fuel efficiency. Automakers are looking ahead to the U.S. CAFE 2025 and European Union 2020 efficiency targets. With natural gas reserves rising and prices plummeting in response-to below gasoline prices on an energy-equivalent basis-another question is how best to use natural gas as an alternative fuel.