Making Fuel Cheaper?

Question

Probably people have been thinking about this one and would be a hole grail if someone came up with anything that is cost affective. I was just wondering if anyone has done some experiments? I know a lot of people are cutting there diesel with half price ADSA chip fat in a bid to get there fuel costs down but I was wondering if Petrol car owners could cut with something cheap and flammable?

Answer 1

yes.....and better for the enviroment

Answer 2

It is difficult to make the cost of oil cheaper because the easy to extract & refine oil has now been used, and demand is still increasing exponetially - see peak oil.

However, it is possible to make travel from a-b cheaper:

- keep tyres at correct pressure

- remove roof bars & old forgotton loads

- keep within speed limits

- don't race between traffic jams/lights, anticipate

switch to electric vehicle you can refuel at home or work from cheap energy, even free if you have your own micro-generator

Also road-tax £0, congestion £0 and free parking & charging in some cities like westminster. Also because evs are simpler to make & maintain they will be cheaper to run too.

plus a more enjoyable driving experience, quiet, smooth, smell free

eg the Tesla, built by Lotus in Norfolk UK http://www.teslamotors.com

and if you want to convert your existing car see battery vehicle society http://www.batteryvehiclesociety.org.uk/...

Answer 3

If you use solar heat or burn waste to distill ethanol it is actually cheaper than petrol.  Vegetable oil actually costs more than diesel when new, it is only when using waste oil that is free that it becomes cheaper.

What we need are plants which are much higher in starch and/or sugars, will grow well in marginal areas and will not crossbreed with related plants.  Genetically engineered plants.  But there are anti-tech people who would stop that even if civilisation was to collapse from not doing it.

The key thought though is to use the least fuel and avoid having to build many new electric plants as going to very expensive electric vehicles would demand.  Since 80% of your driving is within 25 miles of home a cheap, short-range EV works fine, until you have to go just a bit further and can't return home to recharge, own a second car or go rent a car several times a month.  It is the other 20% of driving that kills the pure EV.

Imagine a car the same price as any hybrid, that plugs in overnight to recharge.  You drive 20 miles to work then at work you get a call that your mother in the next town 60 miles away is on her deathbed.  Your car still has 30 miles of charge so you run out and take off.  Then your small, clean, efficient steam-powered generator starts and recharges the batteries as you drive.  Your fuel can be any liquid or gaseous one that the car is built to use and it does not have to be highly refined.

While with your mother you plug in the car, recharge overnight and when she is better the next day you drive straight home.  The onboard generator allows you to go the last 10 miles to home.

You use only about 20% of the fuel used by a regular car and have much lower emissions without all kinds of complex devices.  The idea is a steam-electric hybrid.

Answer 4

what do you think the Iraqi war is about ?

Iraq wanted to lower the petrol prices, so the bush clan, who has all their money in petrol got annoyed, and started a war ...

Answer 5

There's a lot of research on alternative fuel sources - ethanol, bio's, hydrogen, diesel etc. You specify petrol engines - one alternative is to convert it to run on Liquefied Propane Gas (LPG)

"LPG is becoming increasingly popular and it is one of the cleanest fuels available. Studies have shown that it omits 20% less CO2 emissions over both petrol and diesel and it is cheaper too. It’s also less damaging to your engine. The UK government supports the move towards LPG powered vehicles and offers incentives to switch by reducing the duty paid on it. At present, there are only around 1200 petrol stations offering LPG but that number will surely rise. Although LPG powered cars are still relatively low in number, you can convert any petrol engine with a spark ignition to run on LPG at a cost of around £1500 to £2000 which you would be able to recuperate easily over time in lower running costs."

http://www.safermotoring.co.uk/Alternati...

I've done a Google on alternative fuels. You could also Google each fuel by its name - and look at the news section too.

You're right, it is the holy grail and a lot is now being invested in trying to find it and make it genuinely viable.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=e...

Answer 6

lpg...but it costs a lot to set it up

Answer 7

Why not try mulch powered car? The fuel is free, it's flammable, creates h**l lot of pollution....