One problem that I see in the current generation of hybrids is their unsuitability to run on the hydrated ethanol available here in Brazil on cold weather (yes, it's not just a giant beach with an all-year-round summertime). And even though it still decreases the gasoline consumption, it just addresses one part of the problem, so if we don't take the fuel prices in consideration I would be more inclined towards a conventional flexfuel car running on ethanol instead of a comparable hybrid. Anyway, for spark-ignited engines, biomethane seems to be the most promising alternative for the next decade since it can still rely on fuel systems developed for fossil CNG.
When it comes to Diesel, I am still favorable to biodiesel and eventually vegetable oils to be used directly as fuel. Beyond the wide supply of waste cooking oils, since many people nowadays are eating more processed meat-based products instead of fresh meat it would be a good move to use more of those leftover carcass and viscerae fats as a feedstock for biodiesel. Supplemental injection of either a water+alcohol blend or CNG is also not only possible but also a good way to deal with the stricter emission standards and seem to be more beneficial than that DEF thing that does nothing to improve the combustion process and actually wastes more energy resources.
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Originally Posted by bestclimb
The corn crop is heavy subsidized to begin with. With out the subsidy everything on your table would likely cost double what it does now.
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I'm not unfavorable to corn (and corn-based ethanol by extension) at all. Even though I'm from Brazil, often pointed out as an example of success for the early days of the long-gone ProÁlcool, it's worth to remind that corn-based ethanol is a reasonable option to address the seasonality of sugarcane and the distillation-dried grain is still valuable as a high-protein substract to feed cattle or eventually also be used as an ingredient for certain processed foods instead of soybean-derived products that are more expensive.