Car companies are looking at a variety of ways to get more miles out of a gallon, a bushel or a volt.
Chevrolet Tahoe
Flex-fuel
Chevrolet Tahoe
The Chevrolet Tahoe SUV is one of many vehicles now available in a "flex-fuel" version.

That means it can run on either gasoline or E85 ethanol, a blend that's 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Ethanol is an alcohol-based fuel made from plant products.

Ethanol doesn't cost less than gasoline and it offers slightly poorer fuel economy. The advantage is that it's not a petroleum product. It can be made from plants grown right in the United States.

For now, at least, E85 gas pumps are rare on the populous east and west coasts. The fuel is relatively easy to find only in the corn-growing American midwest.

So, for now at least, flex-fuel vehicles from GM, Ford and Dodge are burning gasoline most of the time while drivers wait for E85 pumps to sprout on the coasts.


Flex-fuel

Clean diesel

Natural gas

Parallel hybrid

Two-mode hybrid

Hydrogen-
burning

Plug-in hybrid

Series hybrid

Fuel cell

Plug-in fuel cell

Turbine
Cars from China: Not so fast Plans to export cars from China to the United States is sparking attention, concern, but experts and executives say any progress will be slow. (more)
Collectible cars of tomorrow Collector car insurance company polls its customers to find out what collectors will want in 2027. (more)

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.