The next few years may be remembered as the "hybrid years" for automakers, with petrol-electric hybrids and ethanol blend vehicles becoming popular until the infrastructure for hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles becomes feasible.
Climbing gas prices and awareness of environmental changes, blamed largely on burnt fossil fuels, mean that technologies are being adopted by car manufacturers to maximise fuel economy and limit carbon emissions.
While hydrogen is the ultimate clean-burning fuel, with only water given off, researchers say the infrastructure to deliver hydrogen to consumers is as far as twenty years off.
Meanwhile petrol-electric hybrids such as the Toyota Prius and Honda Accord Hybrid provide improved economy while using existing fossil-fuel infrastructure.
Hybrids use a petrol engine and electric motors that drive or brake the wheels, where braking recharges the vehicle's batteries.
General Motors Corp, the world's largest automaker, told Reuters this week it plans to introduce 19 new engines that improve economy and reduce emissions.
The lineup for its 2007-model cars includes petrol-electric hybrids and Flex-fuel vehicles (FFVs), the company said.
FFVs, already counting for more than half of the vehicles sold in Brazil, use a blend of petrol containing around 85 per cent ethanol, known as "E85". Ethanol is clean burning, biodegradable and renewable, being derived from crops. FFVs can run on either normal petrol or E85 blend with no after-sales modification.
Until hydrogen infrastructure becomes widely available, hybrids and FFVs will likely remain the eco-friendly cars of choice.
With Reuters
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