Other Methods of Reducing Vehicle Emissions
There are some other options as far as the automobile is concerned besides propulsion. You can reduce weight, reduce drag, rolling resistance, change the acceleration capabilities. Of these, only the weight reduction leaves much promise at this point. The automobile manufacturers and suppliers are developing lightweight economic materials. I’m confident that they will eventually solve the manufacturing cost problems but it will take some time. As we require longer maintenance on the environmental standards for the automobiles, if you require 100,000 miles, the technology has to be good for much more than 100,000 miles we’re beginning to see in the industry more use of corrosion-resistant materials, less subject to damages, new propulsion systems like fuel cells. These may extend the life of the car almost indefinitely. In fact, you can visualize the day which people upgrade their existing cars rather than purchase new ones. They may change the appearance and the accommodations of their cars to match their lifestyle changes. As a result, we may not have to dispose of as many car carcasses as we did in the past. There are also some opportunities in unique kinds of cars, nontraditional cars. For example, studies are in process in California in what the State calls narrow lane cars. In over 80 percent of commuting trips, the driver is the only occupant and a good, single passenger car might be acceptable for commuting. Such cars have been proposed with fuel mileage on the order of 120 to 150 miles per gallon.
If you enjoyed reading this post, check out my other writings on the automobile industry, such as my article about lookup license number directories. Have a look, you’ll like it!