Title: Private vehicles for personal transportation

Authors: C.A. Amann

Addresses: KAB Engineering, 984 Satterlee Rd., Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, 48304, USA

Abstract: In the United States, private personal transportation has became dominated by the automobile, a platform supported on four wheels and propelled by an internal combustion engine (ICE). Some of the reasons why this combination has emerged as the preferred choice are reviewed. Since urban air quality has become an issue, the ICE has kept pace with progressively more stringent exhaust-emissions regulations. Future emissions standards will encourage the use of alternative fuels and battery-electric propulsion. Looking far into the future, the depletion of fossil-fuel resources and/or definitive evidence that the greenhouse gases are actually changing the global climate would foster a shift toward nuclear and solar energy. The automobile platform is compatible with such a shift. The ICE and the electric motor remain as potential motive sources, although they would face some difficult challenges.

Keywords: alternative fuels; alcohol; area support; automobiles; battery electric vehicles; bicycles; carbon dioxide; CO2; carbon monoxide; diesel; fossil fuels; fuel cells; gas turbines; horses; hybrid engines; hydrogen; hovercraft; internal combustion engines; line support; M85; NOx emissions; nuclear power; nuclear energy; personal transport; point support; steam power; walking; solar energy; solar power; vehicle design.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVD.1994.061845

International Journal of Vehicle Design, 1994 Vol.14 No.5/6, pp.399 - 430

Published online: 28 May 2014 *

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