Alcohols and compressed methane are liquids at room temperature and can be used in existing engines, with some modification. Like gasoline, however, these fuels create carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides. And since they burn cooler than gas, it takes more fuel to go the same distance. Fuel production is another headache. Methane and methanol come from coal, the quintessential polluting, non-renewable resource.
Ethanol is made from grains better utilized as food.
That may change very soon, as new hydrogen-electric hybrid technology hits the streets. The story, widely distributed through the newswires, claimed that the amount of lead emitted from the Impact's tailpipes would more than offset the promised decrease in particulates, greenhouse gases and nitrogen oxides. But what the Times readers never found out was that the study had been strongly criticized by the scientific community. They even got the Impact's technical specifications wrong. Their assumption that all electric cars would have lead-acid batteries was also flawed.