The so-called "negative oil price" refers to the futures market, which means that the wheat in the field is put into the market for bidding in advance before harvesting. If you think wheat is profitable this year, you should pay a deposit to book this batch of wheat. The wheat harvest is coming, and you find that the granary is full. The farmer wants you to get the goods at once. At this time, you have two ways, either call a bunch of trucks to pull the wheat or throw it away.
But trading places is far away in the United States, trading not wheat, but oil. Where can oil be dumped? In desperation, we had to transfer this batch of goods to others. The house leaked overnight, the demand for refined oil was low, and there was no place for crude oil, resulting in negative oil prices.
Although the oil price has fallen to the bottom during this period, it will still rise in the long run. Maybe one day the oil price may rise to a new high. For this reason, car companies or decision-making departments may not know that the pace of electric vehicles has not stopped when oil prices have fallen to historical lows. It's a little off topic. What can we add to our car in case the oil price rises to an unacceptable level for consumers?
Fuel trucks or internal combustion engines are like omnivores. They can eat anything as long as it doesn't go bad. Any combustible liquid or gas fuel can make the engine run, so there is a taxi that changes from oil to gas. In addition to refueling, gasoline vehicles have many fuels to choose from.
ethanol
Ethanol (alcohol) is familiar to everyone. It is volatile and flammable. Ethanol has been used as a substitute for gasoline for decades. At first, ethanol was mixed into gasoline, and the proportion was only 10%. Later, it was found that the effect was good, and the proportion of ethanol in gasoline was increasing.
Agricultural countries like the United States and Brazil have large crops and low prices, so the United States uses corn to produce ethanol and Brazil uses sugarcane to produce ethanol. So you can buy E85 (83% ethanol) gasoline in America and E 100 (pure ethanol) in Brazil. Car manufacturers can't say that I won't sell cars in this place without gasoline. Toyota plans to launch the world's first ethanol Prius for the Brazilian market.
methyl alcohol
Although there is ethanol gasoline in China, domestic crops may not be as cheap as Brazil and the United States, and it is unrealistic to produce ethanol from a large number of crops. Domestic coal resources are abundant, and coal can be used to produce methanol.
Methanol fuel is rarely used in foreign markets. On the one hand, foreign coal resources are not abundant, on the other hand, coal mining itself is not very friendly to the environment, and the use of coal has not reduced carbon dioxide emissions. Crops used to produce ethanol will absorb carbon dioxide when they grow, which will indirectly reduce carbon emissions. In addition, methanol is highly toxic and dangerous, and only a few domestic passenger car companies have expressed strong interest in methanol.
hydrogen fuel
It is recognized in the industry that hydrogen energy is the most environmentally friendly, so hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are also regarded as ideal energy sources in the future by Japan and South Korea. Most people think that hydrogen fuel is only used in fuel cells. In fact, hydrogen fuel can also be used in engines without pollution.
Hydrogen fuel is not only environmentally friendly, but also has a calorific value three times higher than that of gasoline, which can be understood as more flame-resistant. BMW developed a dual-fuel engine that can burn gasoline and hydrogen many years ago, which means that it is not difficult to change the gasoline engine to burn hydrogen. Although hydrogen fuel has many advantages, the production, storage and transportation costs of hydrogen are very high at present, which is not as affordable as battery electric vehicles.
Using hydrogen fuel as engine fuel is not as efficient as fuel cell electric vehicles, so hydrogen-burning engines are not favored by the industry. After BMW, it seems that no other manufacturer is interested in studying hydrogen fuel engines.
Algae biofuel
Everyone must have heard of biodiesel, but what's the difference between biodiesel and ordinary diesel? The main difference is that biodiesel oil comes from plants or animals. The oil content of algae is higher than that of plants, and at the same time, algae will absorb carbon dioxide during its growth, so it has the effect of reducing emissions, so this technology is more optimistic.
Biodiesel does not need special engine improvement, and it is less polluting and more flame-resistant than ordinary diesel, so this technology is still popular abroad. However, algae biofuels also have their disadvantages. First, it needs enough sunshine and space. Secondly, the production efficiency of algae is very low, so the price of biodiesel is not cheap.
Write it at the end
There are many kinds of fuels for internal combustion engines, which can be used without burning oil, even if rapeseed oil is added to the engine. However, among the current alternative fuels, the output, cost and performance are not comparable to those of petroleum, so alternative fuels are just spare tires.
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.