Gasoline is used mainly by cars, motorcycles, and light trucks; diesel is used mainly by heavier trucks, buses, and trains. Together, gasoline and diesel make up 85% of all the energy used in transportation. There is currently a push to develop vehicles that run on fuels other than petroleum products, or that run on blended fuels. Today, there are some vehicles that run on electricity, natural gas, propane, and ethanol. Hybrid vehicles use much less gasoline than normal vehicles because they also run on electricity part of the time.
Personal vehicles (such as cars and light trucks) consume almost 60% of the total energy used for transportation, while commercial vehicles (such as large trucks and construction vehicles), mass transit (such as airplanes, trains, and buses), and pipelines account for the rest of the energy used.
Oil goes through a refinery where it is made into many different products. Some of them are used for transportation, such as aviation fuel, gasoline, and diesel fuel. From the refinery and larger storage tank farms, transportation fuels are usually trucked to service stations in tanker trucks.
At service stations, the two grades of gasoline, regular and premium, are kept in separate underground storage tanks, from where they are pumped into cars. Midgrade gasoline is a combination of the two types. Other vehicles, such as trucks and some cars use diesel fuel, which is also made from oil.
Burning gasoline, however, creates air pollution. Because of this, oil companies are creating newer types of gasoline that are cleaner than the kind used today. This newer “reformulated gasoline” will be a better type of fuel for the environment. Fuels are being developed from sources other than oil—such as methanol, ethanol, natural gas, propane, and even electricity. Collectively, they are referred to as alternative fuels because they are an alternative to traditional gasoline and diesel. Cars and trucks that use them are called Alternative Fuel Vehicles, or AFVs.
Currently, there are only a small number of cars and trucks running on fuels other than gasoline and diesel, but the trend is on the rise. In the future, experts believe these alternative sources will become much more widespread.
