book

Towards Sustainable Road Transport

by Ronald M. Dell, Patrick T. Moseley, David J. Rand

June 2014

Intermediate to advanced

368 pages

14h 52m

English

Academic Press

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1.1. Bicycles and beyond1.2. Steam takes to the road1.3. The age of electricity1.4. The age of the motor vehicle – from dream to necessity1.5. Growth of the petroleum industry1.6. Development of roads1.7. Growth of the automotive sector

2.1. Challenges for new-generation road vehicles2.2. Demographics and vehicle ownership2.3. Petroleum production and consumption2.4. Conventional petroleum reserves2.5. Atmospheric pollution2.6. Fuel and vehicle efficiencies2.7. Emissions and climate change2.8. Electricity and hydrogen as energy carriers
3.1. The need for ‘unconventional fuels’3.2. Raw materials3.3. Motor fuels3.4. Summary
4.1. Early days of the motor industry4.2. Developments in vehicle body design4.3. Engines and transmissions4.4. Suspension, steering, brakes4.5. Exhaust systems and emissions4.6. Other key components4.7. Safety4.8. Accessories4.9. The future for internal-combustion-engined vehicles
5.1. Electricity to the rescue5.2. Stop–start and hybrid electric vehicles5.3. Electric vehicles with batteries charged from the mains5.4. Solar cars5.5. Benchmarks of progress towards cleaner and more efficient vehicles5.6. Road transport in transition
6.1. Why is electricity supply relevant to road transport?6.2. Electricity – a driving factor in the world economy6.3. Generation and distribution of electricity6.4. Electricity availability in selected countries: contemporary case studies6.5. Recharging electric vehicles6.6. De-regulation of electricity markets
7.1. Fundamentals of energy storage in batteries7.2. Key criteria for candidate batteries7.3. Battery duty in different road vehicles7.4. Lead–acid batteries7.5. Nickel–metal-hydride batteries7.6. Lithium-ion batteries7.7. Sodium–metal-halide batteries7.8. Characteristics of batteries used in hybrid electric and battery electric vehicles7.9. Supercapacitors7.10. The UltraBatteryTM7.11. Better batteries: future prospects
8.1. Why use hydrogen?8.2. Hydrogen as a fuel8.3. Present uses for hydrogen8.4. Hydrogen from fossil fuels and biomass8.5. Hydrogen from water8.6. Hydrogen distribution and storage8.7. Hydrogen utilization: fuel cells8.8. Hydrogen-fuelled road transport8.9. Present status and outlook for fuel cell vehicles
9.1. Over-arching issues9.2. Global climate change: extent and consequences9.3. Choice of vehicle technology9.4. Roads9.5. Choice of fuel: hydrocarbon, hydrogen or electricity9.6. The carrot and the stick: role of governments9.7. Possible futures

Content preview from Towards Sustainable Road Transport

Chapter 3

Unconventional Fuels

Abstract

This chapter is devoted to a discussion of the alternatives to conventional petrol and diesel fuels for the propulsion of road vehicles with internal-combustion engines. Attention is first given to raw materials other than crude oil that can either be used with very little processing (natural gas) or can be refined into useable fuels. The latter include other fossil deposits (oil sands and bitumen, oil and gas shales, coal), as well as various types of renewable energy crops. The world reserves of these sources, collectively, far exceed those of petroleum. The second part of the chapter examines the different fuels that can be derived from these raw materials. Internal combustion engines can be run on a variety ...