Pure methanol is required by rule to be used in USAC sprint cars, midgets, modifieds, etc etc, other dirt track series and Champcars.

Methanol can also be used in radio control, control line and free flight airplans, cars, and trucks as well. Some drag racers and mud racers will also make the use of methanol their primary fuel source as well.

Since methanol is not as combustable as regular gasoline, a high combustion engine has to make use of the fuel. Mainly a supercharged engine in top alcohol dragsters and the above mentioned racers. Even up until the end of the 2006 Indianapolis 500 racers used methanol in their cars.

Aside from the power it takes to combust methanol, it’s not commonly used to fuel vehicles these days due to their aluminum engines. Methanol easily corrodes aluminium, and attacks the oxide coating that protects the aluminium from corrosion.

When methanol is produced from wood or other organic materials, the resulting organic methanol has been suggested as a renewable alternative hydrocarbs. However you still can not use the pure bioalcohol in vehicles today due to the damage it will do to your metal piping and rubber seals of the engine.

HHO used as a fuel or fuel additive to increase your automotive energy is widely speculated and no claims have ever been proven, as a matter of fact most have already been proven false due to the conservation of energy laws. Which states that the total amount of energy in any isolated system remains constantbut cannot be recreated although it may change forms.

HHO powered vehicles are mostly false claims or scams. The most common is the “gasoline pill” or a small pill like additive that will convert water into combustible fuel. Once again water itself can not contribute any energy to the process, the additive or the pill is the fuel.

The 2008 Cheverolet Impala marks the first year that the popular car is available to run on E85 Ethanol fuel. The Impala didn’t sacrifice any engine sizes or power either to achieve this. The E85 will run on most the models for the Impala. THe SS Impala with the V8 engine is the only trim level that will run soley on gasoline.

All these improvements make the impala one of the most desired vehicles of all times, and now that you’ll be able to save some of the gas fund, its even more desired.

Here’s what happens in the fuel cell: When hydrogen gas pumped from the fuel tanks arrives at the anode, which is made of platinum, the platinum catalyzes a reaction that ionizes the gas. Ionization breaks the hydrogen atom down into its positive ions (hydrogen protons) and negative ions (electrons). Both types of ions are naturally drawn to the cathode situated on the other side of the membrane, but only the protons can pass through the membrane (hence the name “proton-exchange”). The electrons are forced to go around the PEM, and along the way they are shunted through a circuit, generating the electricity that runs the car’s systems.

fuel cell flowUsing the two different routes, the hydrogen protons and the electrons quickly reach the cathode. While hydrogen is fed to the anode, oxygen is fed to the cathode, where a catalyst creates oxygen ions. The arriving hydrogen protons and electrons bond with these oxygen ions, creating the two “waste products” of the reaction—water vapor and heat. Some of the water vapor gets recycled for use in humidification, and the rest drips out of the tailpipe as “exhaust.” This cycle proceeds continuously as long as the car is powered up and in motion; when it’s idling, output from the fuel cell is shut off to conserve fuel, and the ultracapacitor takes over to power air conditioning and other components.
A single hydrogen fuel cell delivers a low voltage, so manufacturers “stack” fuel cells together in a series, as in a dry-cell battery. The more layers, the higher the voltage. Electrical current, meanwhile, has to do with surface area. The greater the surface area of the electrodes, the greater the current. One of the great challenges automakers face is how to increase electrical output (voltage times current) to the point where consumers get the power and distance they’re accustomed to while also economizing space in the tight confines of an automobile

Hydrogen fuel is fed into the “anode” of the fuel cell. Oxygen (or air) enters the fuel cell through the cathode. Encouraged by a catalyst, the hydrogen atom splits into a proton and an electron, which take different paths to the cathode. The proton passes through the electrolyte. The electrons create a separate current that can be utilized before they return to the cathode, to be reunited with the hydrogen and oxygen in a molecule of water.

A fuel cell system which includes a “fuel reformer” can utilize the hydrogen from any hydrocarbon fuel - from natural gas to methanol, and even gasoline. Since the fuel cell relies on chemistry and not combustion, emissions from this type of a system would still be much smaller than emissions from the cleanest fuel combustion processes.