A designer fuel future?

摘要

As the person responsible for advanced engineering projects at Volkswagen, Prof Wilfried Bockelmann has to keep abreast of various technologies to ensure that his company does not fall behind the competition, but it is not an easy job as he is the first to admit. "There is a great deal of movement right now going on and to an extent it depends on how the public responds to the current high fuel prices. In Germany as elsewhere around the world, we have seen fuel prices rocketing sky high which could lead to more changes than we anticipated." As outlined by chairman Bernd Pischetsrieder, VW's fuel technology relies on three principles. One is by increasing the efficiency of power train units while simultaneously reducing the tailpipe emissions. Another is incorporating alternate energy sources in the fuel production process and the third is by developing fuels that are CO_2 neutral and can be used in existing cars. The answer to that, says Bockelmann, is bio-fuels and synthetic fuels.