For a while , many of us allowed ourselves to envisage the possibilities : highways and boulevards filled with zero - emissionelectric vehicles(EVs ) . We could see such a human beings , as Ray Bradbury , Isaac Asimov or Philip K. Dick might have imagine it , with fleet of glistening , assault and battery - powered machine streaming through canyons of glass and steel . When Barack Obama promised , in 2008 , to put 1 million EVs on the route by 2015 , we thought our utopian dreams of the future tense would soon amount true . And we had the all - galvanising cars to prove it – the Nissan Leaf , the Tesla Model S and the BMW ActiveE.
But the EV construct has suffer from a certain breakability . Most galvanizing vehicle have a limited orbit of just 100 or 200 mile ( 161 or 322 kilometer ) on a single flush . And the want of an extensive public recharging infrastructure construct it unmanageable to " fill up " when an EV ’s battery run low . This has caused concern among consumers who fear being strand on the side of the road because they ca n’t stop up into the grid . As a result , EV sale have remand . Only 52,835 hype - inch were sold in 2012 , while only about 70,000 have been sold since December 2010 . That stand for EV sales event make up less than 1 percentage of the approximately 15 million vehicles betray each twelvemonth [ source : Electric Drive Transportation Association ] .
Not amazingly , some companies have shifted scheme . Although they continue to crop toward a future of alternative fuel , they recognise a current home - combustion world . Not only that , they see the fossil - fuel economy as an opportunity to make a paradigm shift , instead of as an unfortunate pullout position . Audi is one of those companies . In 2013 , the German car company will enter the Earth ’s first industrial plant to produce something known ase - gas , a C - neutral fuel that can power compress instinctive accelerator pedal ( CNG ) vehicles , including , of track , Audi ’s very own A3 Sportback TCNG . At the same time , the e - gas undertaking provides a simulation and an infrastructure to supply electrical energy for EVs and atomic number 1 for fuel - cell vehicle when both of those engineering science mature into viable option .
fathom too good to be lawful ? Some mass call back so . accelerator 2 blogger Christopher DeMorrowrote this about the e - gas undertaking : " Maybe I am missing something here , but the problem right now is too much atmospherical emissions from automobiles . Merely sustain the status quo wo n’t do . Let ’s get off of the carbon standard as much as possible by focusing on vehicles that go further using less energy . "
Before you agree or disagree , it might be saucy to understand the full scope and ordered series of the e - fuel concept , starting with Audi ’s definition of atomic number 6 neutrality .
Carbon-neutral Combustion
Like many people and corporations , Audi seems to be working hard to reduce itscarbon footmark . If you ’re not familiar with that terminal figure , or its relative , carbon setoff , then you might want to check outHow Carbon Footprints WorkandHow Carbon Offsets Work . In the meantime , here ’s a agile priming : Acarbon footprintmeasures all carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) emission produced by a single mortal or business . Carbon dioxide is the principal greenhouse gasolene bring out by human activities , so that ’s why it receives most of the attention . But an precise C footprint measuring also describe for other gun , such as methane and chlorofluorocarbons . Scientists carry carbon footprint in tons of CO2 or CO2 equivalent weight per yr .
If you cut the CO2 emissions interrelate to a certain activity , then you diminish that activity ’s footprint . If you cut emissions so that they equal the footprint , then you achieve what ’s known ascarbon neutrality . company take on this problem in many dissimilar way . Some progress wind farms to replace ember - fuel big businessman plant . Others engage in carbon sequestration activities , such as implant trees to immobilize carbon paper dioxide in timberland and soils . And still others participate indirectly by funding projects that melt off greenhouse gas emission . All of these method qualify ascarbon offsetting .
fare , which often relies on burning fogy fuels to move people and goods , poses a important challenge in the fight to reduce carbon output signal . It assume a band of electrical energy from a CO2 - spit mogul plant to build a car – and even more to pull , refine and deliver the fossil oil ware to make full its gas tank . And then , once the car gets on the road , its inner burning railway locomotive produces a steady supplying of greenhouse gas , which collect in the atmosphere and become part of a great , planet - heating mantle . Electric and hydrogen - power vehicle could eliminate some of these issues , but they may not be viable solutions for yr .
Despite these challenge , Audi has give itself to " balanced mobility , " which the company defines as " holistic , CO2 - indifferent mobility over short , average and long distances " [ source : Audi USA ] . E - gas , a fuel that can power internal burning engines , toy an of import role in this effort . How can Audi hope to attain carbon disinterest with an older - shoal technology ? It will actually use carbon dioxide as a unsanded fixings to make its railway locomotive - friendly fuel . A refuse biogas plant will provide the CO2 , and a purpose - establish factory in Werlte , Germany , will carry out the necessary chemical reactions . Beginning in 2013 , the factory in Werlte will consume 2,800 metrical gobs of CO2 and will generate 1,000 metrical tons of e - flatulence a year [ beginning : Audi USA ] . This , conflate with other green practices we ’ll explore a bit later , will enable Audi to achieve atomic number 6 disinterest across its entire economic value chain .
Chemists and consumers do it e - gas by another name : methane , or natural gas , which is already used extensively to heat place and to power natural gas vehicles . On the next varlet , we ’ll take a closer look at this synthetical throttle and the chemical science required to produce it .
E-fuel Fundamentals
eastward - gas is just a marketing word for synthetic methane , the science lab translation of the same colorless , odorless gasolene deduce from ancient land plant and aquatic constituent matter that lies buried in the Earth ’s Earth’s crust , above or below oil deposits . While fossil methane takes millions of days to form , synthetic methane comes to life comparatively apace by way of some basic chemistry .
Everything begins withelectrolysis , a type of chemic chemical reaction postulate an galvanic current to pass through a inwardness to effect a chemical substance variety . In this case , the substance is water , and the change leave in the decomposition of water molecules into hydrogen gas and oxygen . The chemical equation would look like this :
2 H2O → 2 H2 + O2
By itself , atomic number 1 could be a fuel for next cars . In these vehicles , hydrogen is compress and stored in a large tank . Then the hydrogen reacts with atomic number 8 to bring out electricity and water . Unfortunately , fuel - cellvehicles require a more robust base before they become economically feasible . Until that time come , Audi exact the hydrogen gas and reacts it with carbon dioxide in a summons know asmethanation . Here ’s the chemic equation for that reaction :
CO2 + 4 H2→ CH4 + 2 H2O
In this equivalence , methane appear as CH4 , and it ’s no different than the swampland gas pull in above a bog or the natural gun draw out at a wellspring . It ’s just as colorless , just as odorless and just as inflammable . More important , it can embark the existing instinctive gas connection without any other modifications , which means it can be distributed to home , business organization andcompressed born gas(CNG ) stations . The auto industry is , of course , most concerned with the last item on this list , for CNG stations deliver fuel to a growing fleet ofnatural gas vehicles , orNGVs . NGVs wo n’t solve all of our global warming or fossil addiction issues , but they might have a use in the transition . Up next , we ’ll review this view of the Audi answer .
Natural Gas Vehicles
Audi ’s A3 Sportback TCNG vehicle – and the concept of power it with semisynthetic methane – seems rotatory , but it builds on a long story . As presently as a reliablenatural gastransmission arrangement became found in the former 1930s , route warrior had the idea to burn it in their cars . In fact , at a technical level , vehicle powered by gasoline and raw gas work on the same principles : Fuel is mixed with air in the piston chamber of a four - stroke engine and then ignited by a spark hoopla to move a piston up and down ( seeHow Natural Gas Vehicles Workfor more details ) . Had the United States and the Middle East not disclose big crude oil field and a vast supply of punk , readily available fuel , natural gas vehicles might have become much more popular .
Today , NGVs represent just a flyspeck fraction of the world auto market . There are about 120,000 NGVs driving on American roads and more than 15 million worldwide at the end of 2011 . Five land – Iran , Pakistan , Argentina , Brazil and India – accounted for almost 70 percent of the spheric market share in 2011 [ source : Natural Gas Vehicles for America ] . NGVs are successful in these regions because the domain lack the capacity to refine oil . But more nation will embrace raw gas in the next 10 years , specially asgasoline pricescontinue to uprise . That ’s because natural gas tends to be much less than gasoline . By some estimates , the fuel savings associate with NGVs run about 30 pct less , on average , than gasoline - power vehicle [ source : Consumer Reports ] .
Fuel costs are only one reason NGVs are so attractive – they also produce far fewer exhaust emissions . accord to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) , NGVs shrink carbon monoxide by 70 to 90 percent , atomic number 7 oxides by 75 to 95 per centum and carbon dioxide by 20 to 30 percent [ source : Natural Gas Vehicles for America ] . contribute all of this up , and you have a car that has far less encroachment on aviation quality and slows the progress of global thaw . You have , in fact , the neat interior - burning fomite on the planet , which is an purity the EPA has bestow upon the natural - gun version of the Honda Civic .
It ’s not all birdsong and green meadows , though . rude gas vehicles be more to buy and present refueling issues that almost rival the recharging woes of EVs . There were only about 1,000 NGV fueling stations in the United States as of December 2011 , and only half of those were undecided to the public [ germ : NGV Global ] . you’re able to install a home base fueling system , but it adds even more up - front ownership costs . And , of course , you ca n’t escape the fact that NGVs , while they bring about far fewer CO2 emanation , still contribute to the thaw of the planet .
As a transitional technology , however , innate gas pedal vehicles are an important firearm of the mystifier , specially if you could run them on synthetical methane made from atomic number 6 dioxide . Remember , that ’s what Audi will do in its Werlte industrial plant : rive water into hydrogen and oxygen via electrolysis , then unite the hydrogen gas with carbon dioxide get from a biogas plant . But wait a minute . Does n’t electrolysis necessitate electricity ? And does n’t electricity require a power industrial plant ? Funny you should require , because that ’s the last element of Audi ’s vitamin E - gas project .
Wind, Wheels and Watts
The e - gun plant in Werlte is the first in the world to combine H electrolysis with methanation ( the hydrogen gas and atomic number 6 dioxide reaction ) , but that ’s not the only institution . The electricity used in the electrolysis reaction will commence as warm picnic whipping over the North Sea , the situation of three large - scale offshore wind farms . There , Audi has build four turbines , each with a capacity of 3.6 megawatts . Together , the turbine should beget 53 gigawatt - hours ofelectricityeach year [ source : Audi USA ] . This renewable energy will be used in three ways [ sources : Audi USA , Fraunhofer - Gesellschaft ] :
Audi did n’t get up with this conception on its own . The mental process was develop by the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden - Württemberg , in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology . Other partners admit Solar Fuel Technology , which has a facility next to the e - petrol plant . Waste heat generated during electrolysis and methanation in the Audi plant will be used in the Solar Fuel Technology installation , hugely enhancing overall efficiency .
The car company celebrated the topping out of its Werlte facility in December 2012 and await e - gas production to set about in 2013 . This will be followed by delivery of its new Audi A3 Sportback TCNG vehicles , which will begin arriving at dealerships in recent 2013 . Audi also plan to launch a 2nd TCNG mannequin , based on the A4 , in 2015 . By then , you could ask to see more and more born gas fomite on the route . Both Chrysler and General Motors have launch born - flatulency version of their heavy - duty trucks . And Honda will continue to promote its natural - gas Civic to consumer looking to save a little money and – just maybe – the major planet .
Lots More Information
It ’s easy to err NGVs as a new concept , but they ’ve been around a long time . My father , who work in the West Texas rock oil field in the late 1940s and other ' 50s , used to assure stories of guys running their beat - up trucks on innate gas . Wonder what those yobbo would recall today of synthetic methane or the fresh Audi A3 Sportback TCNG ?
