Worries over the future of gasoline supplies and the effects of carbon dioxide emissions on global warming are driving innovators to rethink how we get around. On the horizon: better batteries, cleaner fuels, and redesigned engines.
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ALL SPECIAL REPORTS
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 - Hell and Hydrogen
No matter how well they're engineered, hydrogen cars offer no real answer to the imminent threats posed by global warming.
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Klaus Draeger, BMW's manager of research and development, sketched the alluring vision of a future in which high-performance luxury cars burn hydrogen and emit mostly water vapor. Read More
- BMW's Hydrogen Hopes
- Hydrogen may never be feasible as a fuel for vehicles, but BMW is pushing ahead anyway with an advanced hydrogen-gas combustion hybrid.
- Cheaper Fuel Cells
- A new membrane makes fuel cells more powerful and less expensive to produce.
- Hybrid Power Swap
- GM and partners vow to beat Toyota with mechanical engineering.
- Heavy-Duty Hybrids
- Hybrid trucks and buses could significantly cut U.S. fuel consumption, but initial high costs are holding them back.
- The Lithium-Ion Car
- Altair Nanotechnologies plans to road test an advanced electric vehicle prototype.
- Methanol: The New Hydrogen
- Advances in methanol synthesis, coupled with improved fuel cell technology, could make it a viable alternative to gasoline.
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 - GM's New Fuel-Cell Car
The flexible electric car platform is innovative, but the fuel-cell version is freighted with hydrogen's flaws.
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 - Prying Open the Prius
- A look under the hood and inside the battery of the world's best-selling gas-electric hybrid car.
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- Plug-In Hybrids Are on the Way
- Cars with advanced batteries get 100 mpg and boast far greater range than all-electric vehicles.
- An Alternative to your Alternator
- New thermophotovoltaic materials could replace alternators in cars and save fuel.
- GM's Plug-In Hybrid
- How super-hybrids could slash gas consumption and usher in a new era of transportation.
- More Powerful Hybrid Batteries
- A123 Systems has built a powerful, lightweight lithium-ion battery pack that could lower the price of hybrid vehicles.
- Free Power for Cars
- Automakers look to thermoelectrics to help power tomorrow's vehicles.
- Clean Diesel from Coal
- A novel catalytic method could let you fill up your tank with coal-derived diesel, cutting U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology