Front Cover 1
Towards Sustainable Road Transport 4
Copyright 5
The Open Road 6
Contents 8
Preface 14
Biographical Notes 18
Acknowledgements 20
Acronyms, Initialisms, Symbols and Units used in this book 22
Acronyms and Initialisms 22
Symbols and units 25
Fuel consumption 28
Chapter 1 - The Evolution of Unsustainable Road Transport 30
1.1 Bicycles and beyond 30
1.2 Steam takes to the road 33
1.3 The age of electricity 53
1.4 The age of the motor vehicle – from dream to necessity 66
1.5 Growth of the petroleum industry 85
1.6 Development of roads 86
1.7 Growth of the automotive sector 92
Chapter 2 - Drivers for Change 94
2.1 Challenges for new-generation road vehicles 94
2.2 Demographics and vehicle ownership 95
2.3 Petroleum production and consumption 100
2.4 Conventional petroleum reserves 102
2.5 Atmospheric pollution 105
2.6 Fuel and vehicle efficiencies 108
2.7 Emissions and climate change 109
2.8 Electricity and hydrogen as energy carriers 113
Chapter 3 - Unconventional Fuels 115
3.1 The need for ‘unconventional fuels’ 115
3.2 Raw materials 115
3.3 Motor fuels 127
3.4 Summary 136
Chapter 4 - Development of Road Vehicles with Internal-Combustion Engines 138
4.1 Early days of the motor industry 138
4.2 Developments in vehicle body design 140
4.3 Engines and transmissions 145
4.4 Suspension, steering, brakes 167
4.5 Exhaust systems and emissions 173
4.6 Other key components 176
4.7 Safety 180
4.8 Accessories 181
4.9 The future for internal-combustion-engined vehicles 184
Chapter 5 - Progressive Electrification of Road Vehicles 186
5.1 Electricity to the rescue 186
5.2 Stop–start and hybrid electric vehicles 189
5.3 Electric vehicles with batteries charged from the mains 204
5.4 Solar cars 216
5.5 Benchmarks of progress towards cleaner and more efficient vehicles 218
5.6 Road transport in transition 220
Chapter 6 - Mains Electricity Supply for Charging Vehicle Batteries 222
6.1 Why is electricity supply relevant to road transport? 222
6.2 Electricity – a driving factor in the world economy 223
6.3 Generation and distribution of electricity 224
6.4 Electricity availability in selected countries: contemporary case studies 230
6.5 Recharging electric vehicles 240
6.6 De-regulation of electricity markets 244
Chapter 7 - Batteries and Supercapacitors for Use in Road Vehicles 246
7.1 Fundamentals of energy storage in batteries 246
7.2 Key criteria for candidate batteries 250
7.3 Battery duty in different road vehicles 253
7.4 Lead–acid batteries 255
7.5 Nickel–metal-hydride batteries 266
7.6 Lithium-ion batteries 269
7.7 Sodium–metal-halide batteries 275
7.8 Characteristics of batteries used in hybrid electric and battery electric vehicles 280
7.9 Supercapacitors 282
7.10 The UltraBatteryTM 284
7.11 Better batteries: future prospects 285
Chapter 8 - Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and Fuel Cell Vehicles 289
8.1 Why use hydrogen? 289
8.2 Hydrogen as a fuel 289
8.3 Present uses for hydrogen 291
8.4 Hydrogen from fossil fuels and biomass 291
8.5 Hydrogen from water 294
8.6 Hydrogen distribution and storage 298
8.7 Hydrogen utilization: fuel cells 302
8.8 Hydrogen-fuelled road transport 311
8.9 Present status and outlook for fuel cell vehicles 323
Chapter 9 - The Shape of Things to Come 325
9.1 Over-arching issues 325
9.2 Global climate change: extent and consequences 328
9.3 Choice of vehicle technology 333
9.4 Roads 339
9.5 Choice of fuel: hydrocarbon, hydrogen or electricity 340
9.6 The carrot and the stick: role of governments 341
9.7 Possible futures 342
Glossary of Terms 346
Index 364