Researchers discuss investigations into innovative ways to harvest energy from plant materials, including gasoline-like chemicals and hydrogen production.
The Kempton Agassi and Huber proposals have this in common: They take advantage of the fact that energy bought from a central station power plant is cheaper than energy bought from a gasoline pump.
Because the kilowatt-hours used by cars ultimately come from some carbon-based source (power plant or otherwise), the calculation converts kilowatt-hours to equivalent gallons of gasoline consumed.
Electric cars help fight global warming because they contribute less greenhouse gases to the atmosphere than gasoline-powered cars, even if the electricity is made in a coal-fired power plant.
The maker of the Alto, A-Star and WagonR gasoline cars will open a 150, 000-unit-a-year diesel-engine plant and also expand its capacity to manufacture diesel cars by September to meet the expanding demand for diesel vehicles, he added.
Hyundai had already suspended production of diesel engines at its Ulsan plant and warned earlier on Tuesday it could also have to stop production of petrol or gasoline engines.