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Gasoline To Remain The Dominant Fuel, Experts Say
By Mr Ethanol | April 18, 2008
AutoWeek:
We’ll stick with gasoline.
That was the conclusion of a panel of experts discussing alternative fuels at the SAE World Congress on Wednesday, April 16.
Panelists said that gasoline will continue to dominate until the industry begins mass production of fuel cells and other electrically powered vehicles.
The panel spent most of its time discussing ethanol. Hydrogen was all but ignored. Panelists said another alternative fuel, compressed natural gas, was best used as a niche fuel for urban transit buses, rather than passenger vehicles.
Joseph Kaufman, manager of fuels and vehicle trends at petroleum producer ConocoPhillips, said petroleum-based fuels, as well as liquid biofuels that can be blended into them, will continue to carry most of the energy load in this country for the next few decades. Internal combustion engines will continue to dominate, he said, even as they become more sophisticated.
Kaufman said there is a tendency to minimize potential negatives associated with fuels seen as replacements for gasoline. Alternative fuels may work fine in small quantities, but the real test of their viability won’t come until mass production begins, he said.
“The attributes of fuel produced on a small scale are easily ignored,” said Kaufman.
Flexible-fuel vehicles that can run on any combination of gasoline and E85 ethanol are a bridging technology that can help cut petroleum dependence, said Meg Novacek, director of powertrain systems engineering at Chrysler LLC. E85 is a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.
But because ethanol contains less energy than gasoline, the price has to be brought low enough to encourage people to buy it, she said. Full article.
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