FUEL
material such as coal, gas, or oil that is burned to produce heat or power.
OIL
Oil reserves are found all over the world. However, some have produced more oil than others. Th e top oil producing countries are Saudi Arabia, Russia, the United States, Iran, and China. Oil is the main part of creating petrol and diesel. Fuel is the main reason that oil is mined. It can be used for other things like heating oil, jet fuel, and propane. Oil is found underground and extracted by oil rigs.
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PETROL
Petrol is probably the most common type of fuel for cars, also known as gasoline. Petrol is accessed daily in petrol stations. It is rich in combustible carbon in the production of electricity or running some sorts of heat engines. Petrol engines are all about revs, and they tend to achieve their maximum power - or fun point - at a higher number of revolutions. They deliver the excitement of the wind up; as the revs rise and you fang through the gears, speed is piled on. This makes them racier and more involving, at least in theory. Petrol is also by far more common than other types of fuel. In Australia, 72.7% of cars on the road are powered by petrol.
However, the down side of petrol is the byproduct. This is carbon emissions. These include carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, Sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides just to name a few. These are all harmful to the environment and contribute to the growing problem of global warming.
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DIESEL
Diesel is another common type of fuel, accounting for 25.6% of cars in Australia. There are many similarities and differences with petrol. Diesel engines deliver their grunt - in the form of torque - at much lower revs. This is why bigger vehicles like lorries and trucks use diesel. Also, many vehicles that spend a lot of time cruising on highways are diesel. The differences are huge and noticeable, with a diesel engine delivering as much as three times more power at a point just above idle. Diesel's other advantage is that it has a much higher compression ratio than unleaded petrol, which makes it more efficient.
Diesel, much like petrol is bad for the environment. However, it is less damaging due to its more efficient trait.
ELECTRIC
Electric cars are slowly becoming the new normal in cars. More and more brands are bringing out electric cars. Big brands like Honda and Nissan both have cars that are fully electric and Toyota and Ford make the top three selling hybrid cars in the world. The luxury brands of Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi all have electric cars on the market. However, the most known brand for electric cars is Tesla, who only make electric cars. Car manufacturers are slowly accepting the fact that electric cars are less polluting and producing more electric vehicles will help reduce total carbon emissions. Also that in the future the market for electric cars will be greater than petrol or diesel cars. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) figures for September 2019 showing a 236.4% rise year-on-year. This is because of the increased awareness of issues like climate change.
Electric cars are known for being more efficient, quieter and in some cases even faster. Electric vehicle are charged by plugging it into a public charging station or into a home charging unit. There are three charging speeds for electric cars: slow, fast and rapid. Slow takes 8-10 hours, fast takes 3-4 hours and rapid can be less than an hour, down to 30 minutes. The slow charging are the only ones which can be plugged into your homes, the others need specific charging stations. The United Kingdom now has more charging stations that petrol stations. An average electric car has a range of about 300-400 km. However, some can exceed 500 km. Power is measured in Kilowatts (kW) for an electric cars. This is different from Brake Horse Power (bhp). The average petrol car has an average bhp of 100. However, being more efficient, the average kilowatts for an EV (all electric vehicle) is around 150. 100 kilowatts is around 130 bhp.
Toyota plan to have half of their sales generated from electric cars by 2025. Volkswagen plans to reach its target of 1 million electric cars produced by the end of 2023, two years ahead of its prior predictions.
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