Alternative Fuels come from resources other than petroleum. Alternative fuel uses sources like corn, vegetable oils, animal fats, natural gas, propane and hydrogen. Various Alternative Fuels are produced domestically, thus reducing our dependence on imported oils and some are derived from renewable sources. Alternative fuel produces less pollution than normal gasoline or diesel (U.S. Department of Energy, n.d. ).
Alternative fuel is produce for a variety of vehicles commonly called Alternate Fuel Vehicles (AFV) or Flex Fuels Vehicles (FFV). Alternative fuel types are E85, Biodiesel, CNG, Propane and Hydrogen. The Alternative Fuel types that align with unleaded and diesel fuel primarily used in rental car company fleets are E85 and Biodiesel. The types Alternative Fuel most widely used are E85 and Biodiesel and readily available throughout the United States. Another type of AFV/FFV is hybrids vehicles. Hybrids have a gasoline or diesel engine and are support by electric motor connected to power train of AFV/FFV.
In this essay, we will concentrate on E85 and Hybrids as a suitable alternative fuel for rental car conversion.
Alternative Fuel Cost Benefit
The benefits of switching to Alternative Fuel or Hybrids are tremendous. The first possible benefit is cost saving on fuel purchased each year. The cost saving is potentially a winfall for Lotus and customers needing incentive for converting to AFV/FFV. If you use a national average, figure of $3.35 a gallon for unleaded fuel. Typically, having an AFV/FFV using E85 will save you $1,700 in fuel cost each year. The second benefit is the environment. E85 is made with a gasoline-ethanol blend containing 51% to 83% ethanol depending on geography and season. Using ethanol reduces imported oil and lowers greenhouse gas emission (U.S. Department of Energy, n.d. ). The overall benefit is on the environment of reducing some of the effects of using petroleum-based fuels. If the
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