The following report is a comparison study of the alternative for the future automobile sector, where the fuels in focus are bio-ethanol, bio gas, electrical vehicles and hydrogen gas. Through this comparison one or multiple of fuels will be decided to be the better solution for a future without greenhouse emissions. Since transportation one of the major areas of polluting an instant change has to be made sooner than later.
The main purpose is to give people an understanding of the fuels and then give simple data to interpret. By comparing the vehicle performances and society integration for each fuel there will be many different perspective to analyze and take into consideration.
The structure of the comparison is divided into two major sections, one that is based on how the fuels interact with the vehicle. Categories are created within the sections, where Content of Energy tells the potential of energy extraction and Fuel Efficiency shows consumption of energy and operational cost. To this category does the WTW expression belong as well for specification of the energy losses. A final performance category in acceleration gives an indication of how attractive the fuel might be. Following the performance section, the society integration focuses more on the big picture, such as investment cost and convenience.
First of all regarding the performance of the fuel, after summarizing the categories Fuel Cell H2 was the number one choice. As the runner-up was the electrical vehicle and worst case was bio gas. Secondly, the society integration based on cost and convenience, the electric vehicle had an estimated investment cost of 41,300 MSEK to supply Sweden. To combine these two major areas the conclusion leads to an announcement of EV:s as the best option out of the studied. As a consequence of the simplicity to use electric power without any direct emissions from the vehicle itself, the EV:s are the most convenient vehicle fleet to establish.
This would be with conditions that are based on today’s advances in technology and knowledge about possible developments over time. The conclusion is open for the unknown and eventually correct itself to upcoming fuels. But as for now, the important part of this discussion is to make a move away from the gasoline-dependent society and give the future generations better conditions.
Source: KTH
Author: Källström, Fabian