Alternative Fuel Sources - Hydrogen and Fuel Cells: Advances in Transportation and Power - page 75

Chapter 3
Alternative Fuel Sources
Some problems of the automobile began as the smell of unburned
gasoline grew beginning in 1905. Gasoline caused noticeable pollution
and its status as a nonrenewable resource was questioned. Engineers and
industry analysts began to wonder if an ample supply would remain
available with the growing popularity of the automobile. Alternative fu-
els such as grain alcohol were available, but alcohol was double the price
per gallon at the turn of the century. This did not include the federal excise
tax that was placed on alcohol in 1862 to help reduce the Union's costs in
the Civil War. In 1907, the tax was repealed, but, the procedure of denatur-
ing alcohol, to make it undrinkable and enforce the sobriety of Americans,
added to its price and gave gasoline the advantage. It also took more alco-
hol to produce the same amount of power than gas.
The car industry started in the United States with only 8,000 regis-
tered cars and trucks in 1900, but there were over 215 million by 2000. This
growth started with the efforts of hundreds of companies, but it became
almost the exclusive domain of Ford, General Motors and Chrysler in the
U.S. and a few other companies in Europe and the rest of the world. In
Detroit, almost 140 auto companies were formed from 1900 to 1903, but
about half of these would fail by 1904.
Leaded gasoline became a major factor in engine performance. Early
cars had to be cranked by hand to start. But in 1911, the invention of the
self-starter eliminated the need of hand cranking. Automakers could
now provide larger cars with larger, easy-to-start engines. But as larger
cars were produced, a knocking sound appeared when the engine was
climbing hills or accelerating. If cars were going to be larger, then a way
had to be found to eliminate the potential engine damage from engine
knock. Soon after the invention of the self-starter, engineers at Dayton
Engineering Laboratories Company (DELCO) found that ethanol or grain
alcohol could be used to reduce knock.
In 1921, the DELCO lab, which was now part of GM, found that tet-
raethyl lead was an excellent antiknock compound. By 1923, leaded gas
was being pumped at Dayton, Ohio. In the following year, GM, DuPont
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