With easy-to-read text, full-color photos, and captivating graphics, this book examines the background, pros and cons, and future of alternative cars. Readers will learn about electric cars, gasoline-electric hybrids, hydraulic hybrids, diesel cars, and hydrogen fuel-cell cars. Powering cars with natural gas and ethanol blends is also discussed, as well as the demand for oil, fuel economy, and fuel emissions. Exciting, close-up photos let readers look inside the engines of electric, gasoline-electric hybrid, and hydraulic hybrid cars. Environmental topics such as the burning of fossil fuels, pollution, greenhouse gases, and global warming are also addressed. Informative sidebars, bold glossary terms, and an index accompany engaging text and interactive graphic elements.