Is Ethanol a viable alternative to petrol in terms of automobile technology?
Biodiesel rocks. It just works in every diesel. Dr. Rudolf Diesel invented the engine to run on plant oils. If you want a greener car, go biodiesel. Ethanol is a problem. First it takes so much energy to make it (distilling and all) that it takes nearly its weight in petroleum just to make. Second, it’s chemically different from gasoline. It’s more corrosive, it seeks to absorb water (bad), and it has less energy than gasoline. So the car’s fuel system needs to be retooled to handle a corrosive fuel, and then it must be rejetted/reprogrammed to use ethanol, then it can use ONLY ethanol. No switching back and forth. Some American cars can switch back and forth because they are computer controlled and the software is able to use engine diagnostics to detect and cope with any blend of ethanol and gas that might be in the tank. I suppose you could put a 300hp American Vortec V8 in your Porsche, but it would just break the transaxle from too much torque. Muscles – fuel vs. food is a myth. T
