In the race to go green, automakers and designers are looking at alternative energy, which will drive cars, maintain performance and emit zero or near zero greenhouse gases. They’ve worked on electric drivetrains, cars fueled by biogas, fuel cells and even conceived of vehicles propelled by magnetic levitation. The going isn’t as fast as we’d like, but with advancements in technology and more money being invested into researching eco friendly cars, we seem to be on a steady path. Ex Ford engineer, Richard Parry Jones, subscribes to this view and recently claimed that by this decade’s end, eco friendly internal combustion engine vehicles will be as polluting as high speed hybrid trains on a per passenger basis.
According to the former engineer, carmakers are looking to achieve 40g/km of carbon emissions by the year 2020. If the mean occupancy of 1.6 people per vehicle remains the same in the next 8 years, then that would amount to 25g per person/km. This could put eco friendly internal combustion cars on the same level as clean mass transit systems.
Of course, this is just speculation but we’re hoping that Parry Jones turns out to be right. Currently, cities are polluted by smog, leading to health concerns and environmental damage. According to The Guardian, in order to get emissions down to 42g per passenger/km, you would have to limit the number of passengers to four in a small diesel vehicle, and that too with ultra low sulphur fuel. That would put the vehicle in the same category as a Virgin Voyager class diesel electric train at 75 percent capacity.
There’s no telling when such figures could be achieved. Presently, engineers and researchers are trying to come up with the most fuel friendly engines. As it is, the Toyota Prius, pegged as one of the most eco friendly hybrids around, delivers about 120g/km of CO2.
Via: Autoblog
