What’s the best fuel for your car?

Dig into which fuel- gasoline, electric, biofuels, or electrofuels- is both affordable for consumers and sustainable for the planet.
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Historically, most cars have run on gasoline, but that doesn’t have to be the case in the future: other liquid fuels and electricity can also power cars. So what are the differences between these options? And which one’s best? Dig into which fuel- gasoline, electric, biofuels, or electrofuels- is both affordable for consumers and sustainable for the planet.
Directed by Lisa LaBracio.
Animation and art direction by Kevin Herrmann, AIM Creative Studios.
In partnership with Bill Gates, inspired by his book "How To Avoid A Climate Disaster": bit.ly/PlanForZero
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View full lesson: ed.ted.com/lessons/what-s-the...
Dig deeper with additional resources: ed.ted.com/lessons/what-s-the...
Animator's website: aimcreativestudios.com/
Sound design: / aim-music
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Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Sumedh Ghaisas, Guhten, Maryam, Bethany Connor, Jeremy Shimanek, Mark Byers, Avinash Amarnath, Xuebicoco, Rare Media, Rayo, Po Foon Kwong, NinjaBoffin, Jesse Jurman, Josue Perez Miranda, Scott Markley, Elija Peterson, Ovidiu Mrd, Lawrence Wu, Xavier Dupont, Aravind Battaje, Nathan Giusti, Helen Lee, Anthony Benedict, Karthik Balsubramanian, John Hong, Annastasshia Ames, Sebastiaan Hols, Aries SW, Amy Lopez, Liz Candee, Kathryn Vacha, Anthony Arcis, Jeffrey Segrest, Karmi Nguyen, Yelena Baykova, Harshita Jagdish Sahijwani, Nick Johnson, Carlos H. Costa, Mohamed Elsayed, Les Howard, Jennifer Kurkoski, Ryan B Harvey, Abhishek Bansal, Jose Arcadio Valdes Franco, Karl Laius, JY Kang, Charles A Hershberger, Robert Seik, Heidi Stolt and Alexis Hevia.

[@TEDEd]

This is the sixth of a seven part series, so stay tuned for more! If you want to get a head start on learning more about this exciting and urgent topic, check out Bill Gates' new book "How To Avoid A Climate Disaster." In it, Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical, and accessible plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe. Check it out: bit.ly/PlanForZero

[@animationguy2204]

Ok

[@akshatshah3961]

These videos are made up of repeated facts, Very less new information!

[@paulantu128]

Yehaa

[@ilertargenthorne4639]

Can we get all seven in a playlist?

[@annarose932]

Could you please do a video on something relating to theatre or books? I would love to see animation on theatre plays that you look into, perhaps The Frogs by Aristophanes or Antigone by Sophocles; or looks at the works of Tennessee Williams, Caryl Churchill, Lorraine Hansberry; and the theatre practitioners who changed theatre, Bertolt Brecht, Antonin Artaud, Stanislavski or modern companies like DV8. Please create content on these topics! Would love to learn more of these and see you talk of them!!

[@giancarlop.delacruz4920]

POV: You watched this yet you don't own a car.

[@NatsuDragneel-vj4lx]

That is true for me now March 22, 2021

[@muhammadabdulrehman1540]

Why must you hurt me this way?

[@omikapasandul8737]

I’m a kid!

[@somedude725]

Well the more you know

[@Chillstreamer]

And that's a good thing! The best fuel is a fuel that is not needed.

[@limkenn2860]

Staying up late at night watching Ted-ed without using your brain is the best feeling ever

[@shoaibakhtar4389]

Without using brain!?

[@nadavgvili9684]

well its 4pm in my area

[@yadhuareji]

brain.exe has stopped working

[@capturedbymiyah814]

@@shoaibakhtar4389 you dont remove your brain to let it charge at night??

[@mai.vancon]

Well, it’s 7:20am where I am right now while eating fruit,

[@igoregalado5590]

Ted-Ed is for the mind as the fuel is to the car.

[@GameOver-qk2ys]

- Shakespeare

[@kepler214]

@@GameOver-qk2ys No "Elon Musk"

[@billymemonable]

Why has the channel not liked this comment yet?

[@HeavyMetalLegend217]

Well said

[@dominickaine]

jpnewPic88.Men

[@paleoph6168]

The demon of reason is narrating this, he must have a certain liking for this kind of stuff.

[@Alhumdulila786]

Yeah

[@ddcc5560]

I was looking for this comment

[@willfang1472]

Right after he stole someone's cloth and edited the script.

[@hasanmuhammad6651]

@@willfang1472 lol

[@HumansOfVR]

the *_cybertruck_* is so freakin weird I love it

[@arryn786]

It’s really not that cool. Looks like a low rendered polygon game car lmao. I get they tried doing something but like, they failed at whatever it was😅🤷‍♂️

[@b0chen]

@@arryn786 over 600K pre-orders is a fail? Show me another car that has even close to that many preorders. Lucid? Nikola? Lordstown? Rivian? even combined they have far less.

[@arryn786]

@@b0chen ...huh? 😅 i’m not sure why you are replying to me with that, am I supposed to care? I was speaking about how it looks not how many dons bought it sorry.

[@b0chen]

@@arryn786 you consider it a fail, what is your reasoning for it? By any metrics, it's considered successful, but again feel free to show us your metrics

[@suso6425]

@@arryn786 you just said it failed, he proved why it didn’t, why are you denying you said anything now?

[@jyoti7403]

Ted ed the best educator with best content i have ever seen 😄

[@ibrahimalowonle9106]

And that's true

[@abaronofchivalry5176]

There is only one other. Kurzgesagt.

[@lumbratile4174]

@@abaronofchivalry5176 which is better. Also crash course.

[@Arttojisannn]

And that's a fact

[@ivanvalverde7018]

100% agree

[@justonlyalta]

We aren’t addicted to oil, but our cars are. -James Woolsey

[@micahbush5397]

We just happen to be addicted to cars.

[@Marynz]

Plastic is also made from oil

[@Namchha1]

Americans who eat fried water: ":("

[@JT-xd9uc]

Safety not save gasoline.

[@khakimzhanmiras]

Cars? Say cargo ships and planes.

[@WillJackDo]

Damn that animation is good...

[@ffedor245]

It would be very interesting to hear more about the biofuels and the research on them so far.

[@ZarrysLux]

the animation holy 3:48 and whoever thought of this is a GENIUS

[@DrFreudful]

Really love the animation in this video. The style is so subtle yet refined... Very much looking forward to seeing more from Kevin Herrmann :)

[@tjtheknowledgeseeker7878]

The man behind the Demon of Reason!

[@broncohaak]

So the personal automobile only accounts for 8% of carbon emissions. When do we target the heavy hitters, corporations, on their emissions.

[@brechtxt8096]

THIS

[@keno77777]

”Sila mygg och släppa igenom elefanter” = Filtering mosquitos and letting through elephants

[@yankokassinof6710]

yep exactly

[@hakimdiwan5101]

You want TED to shutdown?

[@khakimzhanmiras]

I’ve been saying this for years. Driving and maintaining a 50 year old big block Chevy is more eco conscious than that new Tesla. People are just addicted to buying new stuff, Tesla just provides the pretence that their purchase is justifiable since it’s “eco conscious”.

[@kathis6432]

Sad that you didn’t consider the damage the production for electric car batteries is causing. Also there are Hybrid Cars which are also an option!

[@ianhillman4007]

I love how you completely ignore the problems created when mining for the minerals required for batteries for electric automobiles and the in evitable problems with the disposal of spent batteries

[@jupiterbeans284]

also the massive carbon footprint that comes from constructing and maintaining roads and the use of rubber tires the best electric car is a train.

[@greenleafyman1028]

@@jupiterbeans284 and Trams

[@jupiterbeans284]

@@greenleafyman1028 yes!

[@ilertargenthorne4639]

Who remembers The _Adam Ruins Everything Ep_ about Electric Cars being powered by Diesel power fields.

[@andrewgagne5063]

I have.

[@edeworabraham2761]

Yes

[@moizattaria4051]

Electric plus renewable energy is required

[@alvingalang5106]

Electric car will be capable to use renewable energy once its available, possibly capable to replace their lithium batteries into something else in the future. How about that smelly diesel car?

[@dominickaine]

jpnewPic88.Men

[@HIFLY01]

I was expecting this more to be about which fuel type has the best energy ratio. I thought gas was around 15% energy efficient and diesel is 20%. Its something crazy like that because of heat and sound engines create

[@nguyenminhchau5110]

Hydrogen Fuel Cell: _"Hello there, hey, hey _*_HEY..!!"_*

[@b0chen]

0:15, I wonder which car model the electric one is XD

[@friend6405]

I also dunno bro, guess we have to ask Elon Musk about it! ;-)

[@sid-2k1]

The narration was nice and simple I didn't realize that I watched entire video without using subtitles 😊

[@qwertSI2A]

"And i've been putting out fire with gasoline" Me: wait that's illegal

[@rahulnani8523]

I am from India 🇮🇳 in ap state in eee branch in engeenering this will helps me to desigine a project on electrical vehicles Thank you for good animation

[@cspaliwal_]

"I wish there was a world where we can use Carbon dioxide as Fuel for Cars" -My Imagination

[@chandrahasreddy1729]

And release methane?

[@cspaliwal_]

@@chandrahasreddy1729 Let it stay in farts, You know it stinks CO2 don't stink but it kills us

[@cspaliwal_]

@@chandrahasreddy1729 but methane indirectly kills us

[@chandrahasreddy1729]

@@cspaliwal_ yea boi yea I hope you'll mention that the machine releases O² from CO²

[@asemBn03]

I like how Ted are focusing on greenhouse gasses and electricity in this period. They are sort of foreshadowing for the next world crisis after covid-19.

[@thiagosarquis6789]

In brazil we use Ethanol that is made from sugar-cane leftovers, it is cheaper than regular gasoline and just a bit less efficient. our cars can also use both the gasoline and the ethanol from the sugar-cane

[@upsideken9385]

Interesting! Thank you so much for sharing. I'll be following news about those.

[@dominickaine]

jpnewPic88.Men

[@vatsalsaxena4002]

TedEd never fails to make me a more intelligent and smart human. Thanks for the free education TedEd!

[@jagpreetsingh6711]

Though we may be going though ozone deletion but I wanted to aske that the method at 2:51 make ozone? Also since excess of things is sometimes dangerous, does excess of O3 cause any problems?

[@NullNoxproduction]

I hope one day, I could fund this channel because the information and knowledge acquired from this channel is gold. 😃💯

[@macdam11]

Or... you just take a bike, one of the most efficient ways of transport and healthy at the same time

[@ClownDollThatHasContemptForYou]

It depends on a lot of things,but it's not an efficient solution.

[@mccabe8818]

Handicapped

[@macdam11]

​@@ClownDollThatHasContemptForYou From many angles it is, for example the footprint required for bicycle infrastructure is way lower compared to cars and you dont need as many carparks. you only move the driver in combination with the low weight and therefore low friction of a bike compared to the heavier car, using only a fraction of the power. Even if you dont want to cycle (that much), there are electric bicycles which allow you to go up to 50km/h without much effort and power requirements.

[@PapaSeed]

@@macdam11 what if i need to travel really far?

[@amritsingh4251]

I mean it's good for short distances or if you live in a city, but for longer distances it's not feasible.

[@MartinHerchel]

Really nice and smooth animation on this one, good one, Kevin Herrmann.

[@sackeshi]

Ted ed has become the "Climate Change Education Channel" and I am okay with this :)

[@heisernsu]

@@oliverelfenbaum7119 please don't self promote and scam people like that.

[@sont4040]

1:59 am i the only one who really likes this smooth and satisfying af transition?

[@JubaProductionsStudios]

In Brazil we pay about the same for sugar cane ethanol and gasoline, per distance travelled, I believe

[@lusciouslucius]

could someone link me some sources about subsidies for oil companies in the US? no older than 3 years pls

[@ankushyadav2238]

I also read that keoniseg also working on alternative source that can be used ..I don't have full info about it just that they are using some material from Antarctica

[@motazajjour]

Ted is in my head! Just was thinking about it today for the first time in my life.

[@Ami5Jo]

How about the car battery manufacturing? It has some drawbacks too. I'm just saying we can't leave that out of the conversation if we want an open and honest one.

[@nafis9689]

Came here to know what fuel would be best for my car Left here learning about sustainable energy sources

[@p.papini1912]

Same bruh. Not unhappy about it but now I need a TedEd on what fuel is best for my car haha.

[@tfp2164]

Was doing a project on which fuel is best when this was realeased

[@secretofsecrets2858]

Best fuel for your car : Hydrogen Methods to extract Hydrogen are : 1) Absorbing methane directly from air and using scrubbers to convert the gas into hydrogen and carbon. 2) Electrolysis of water (H2O) : Seperates 2 hydrogen atoms and 1 Oxygen atom. 3) Natural gas can be split into parts hydrogen and one part carbon. The hydrogen can used for fuel and leftover carbon, once solidified, can be used to create speciality materials for sectors like space, auto, shipbuilding, electronics and more. THE FIRST ONE IS STILL UNDER RESEARCH. 😉😇

[@scienceentanglement2180]

POV: You don't have a car and you are not interested in cars, but you like TedEd videos

[@Ascend777]

I wish I could live in a place and have a job that doesn't requires me to have a car. Sadly, I do not.

[@josephandino3049]

You know I always wonder what would be the best fuel. And know I am like then plant based fuel is the best ? Then plants that doesn't require fertilizer. You think are getting trickier to understand. But you Ted-ed just want to make me learn even more. Thanks for that. Your video will alway make me think what can be better for the world.

[@unknownuser-ch1bv]

one of the best graphic visualization ever.....

[@tmantheawesome22]

I like how you elaborated that the energy also has to come from none fossil fuel sources

[@joermnyc]

Prior to Henry Ford putting a gasoline motor in his Model T, cars were made to run on many fuels, including electric. Unfortunately the best battery tech at the time was acid based, plus the fact that not every house had electric service so recharging at home was impossible.

[@Tannyboydegen]

I'm loving these series

[@jamesheller2707]

So what exactly was the answer for this question

[@ibrahimalowonle9106]

Love the animations keep it up 👍

[@agbook2007]

0:27 It would be more accurate to use a plant fossil here... The hydrocarbons of oil are less animal-based and more plant-based.

[@dynamosaurusimperious6341]

This will soon be the best debatable Ted-Ed yet,but overall eithe fuel is best fuel. Also nice animation,Ted.

[@Roy-vn8wh]

Remember each person has their own use case when effect s their fuel choice.

[@trentlilley2001]

People hate on the cyber truck but it’s undoubtedly the coolest silhouette

[@Madmun357]

1:54 Incorrect. They need lots of copper and lithium. Mining those metals can only be done with diesel powered heave equipment. Also, cars have lots of plastics which come from refined hydrocarbons.

[@anitahoffman1]

While gas and hydrocarbons are energy dense, a lot of that energy in internal combustion engines is wasted as heat. Wish they would have touched on this point.

[@andrewgagne5063]

There is another way. It is not realistic, but better. We need to reduce our dependence on cars as a means of transit. We can get to different places without cars, such relying on public transportation, bicycles, or just walking.

[@nihaltmiipcmbb1467]

Yes extraction of Li and other metals to make batteries is environmentally friendly. In fact disposing of old batteries is also very safe and easy.

[@KryssAA]

About electric cars, you could consider that rare components to create them (mainly rare metals inside the battery) are also parts of the "fuel" they need to function. And, most of all, is it possible, or plausible, to create enough electric cars to replace all of gasoline cars ?

[@rianoluasa2336]

The one that is supposed to go in your car. The questions is not which is best for your car but which is best for your lifestyle, and its probably petrol or a hybrid.

[@otakuxgirl6]

Its shameful that almost everything we do emits greenhouse gases in some way or other.

[@qasimmir7117]

So we should not have industrialised?

[@survivor1937]

I like your videos as electrician getting an electric car fixes expensive changing a battery on one of those cost a fortune they are not feasible for transportation

[@franciscollamasdominguez7988]

Great video!! Why don't you think to make it avable in others languages (like Spanish). Great content but it is difficult for some non native english speakers to take profit of it

[@God-qr6wz]

The last slide is My Dream World 🥰 4:20

[@heisernsu]

stunning art design as always :D

[@alexisbouligand1335]

The music is always stunning.

[@skinner7irish]

I love TED-Ed, and very much resonate with the message of alternate energy and addressing climate change. However I wish they would have shown that electric cars are NOT without their "cost", especially in the mining and refining of materials for the batteries themselves. I feel it could have been shown in the video and still demonstrated that it is preferable to our traditional fossil fuel approach, and then would have been a more honest depiction of reality

[@nonyabizness.original]

everyone knows that there are environmental costs to producing the cars themselves, both gas powered and electric. currently, cars stay on the road for an average of 10 years, at 15,000 miles a year, either burning fossil fuels or running on cleanly produced electricity. what is the longterm balance of costs then? would be good to know, but it all depends, doesn't it? my thought is that our disposable, consumer driven world, a HUGE environmental savings would be to require cars to be made to last much longer. after all, a car is an item made up of replaceable parts, so theoretically should last forever unless they get totaled.

[@yashvashistha6004]

Ted. Ed is a great place to start, we need some other resource to get deeper into the topics

[@FinancialShinanigan]

TED-Ed, where you learn about the past, present, and future

[@chaitanyadandale4569]

Also guys can u please make such videos by recruiting people from countries to talk about their own respective country's problem. Using your non profit platforms and tools? Can you do ? Coz this would really help countries where i live in or 3rd world countries where audio visual media can play a interest building tool for promoting education in young people. As often the audio visual media available is very limited considering tye the quality and explaination of topics. Plz do this favour for me. From a teenager from south asia

[@mekuto.fukiko]

ted ed rlly have to upload at 11pm🤩

[@l96ai]

Yep 63 views with 191 likes.. youtube algorithm back at it again..

[@useless6337]

3:30 nice frog easter egg

[@-._Harsh_.-]

Why represent fossil fuels as a dead dinosaur while it's the dead and decayed phytoplankton and plants which mostly have formed these fuels?

[@leigh8612]

because it's easier for interpretation. Not a lot of people have ideas what a phytoplankton looks like

[@melancholyx5]

Suchh a beautiful vid!

[@Ninjachickenfingers]

The animation is just beautiful man

[@vinaychimmili6195]

Just today I saw the post of bill gates on linked in regarding getting down of green premium I didn't understood it at that point, but this video made it clear!!!

[@h7opolo]

3:16 the no symbol requires the line to point downward from left to right., otherwise, you're indicating something other than "no". ffs

[@dimamatat5548]

Alternative is to go on foot or bicycle (no fuel needed), or use public transport

[@vijayamusale7997]

Can we use cycle as possible for transportation!

[@joyl7842]

2:50 *the obstacle to using them in cars is the fact that not enough fueling/service infrastructure are in place for hydrogen-fueled cars

[@hexazalea1793]

All I'm saying is Steam cars are very quiet and release water vapor as their primary exhaust and are a proven technology that just needs a few updates.... also instead of horns they have Fancy whistles.

[@nikyabodigital]

We need battery that last longer.. No i do not mean high mah but what i mean is something that has charging cycles last to 10 years and a faster charger, like 5 seconds then blip

[@mahantesh1243]

Wish it was 3 hours long!

[@wilsonmar5140]

What they are going to do with the old Batteries

[@paulantu128]

Just amazing

[@ecneics7660]

Piezoelectricity ( piezoelectric effect) appearance of an electric potential across the sides of a crystal when you subject it into mechanical stress. Bury piezoelectric crystals under streets to capture energy as vehicles pass by ... ♡♡ Great Idea ♡♡ Correct???

[@amitaifeingold7866]

this video was very indecisive.

[@raydahgray2893]

I think that people should us solar energy and especially in deserts like the Sahara desert in Africa can be a great source of heat and energy since it’s very hot there.

[@mitesh2k3]

That doesn't mean we can cover Sahara with solar panels. There is a video on channel called *what if* which has made video on this

[@raydahgray2893]

@@mitesh2k3 oh I haven’t seen it yet, my point is since it’s so hot and sunny there we can use that energy to power electrical cars and anything that needs electricity to work. That way we can protect the investment and save a lot of our resources.

[@NoHandleToSpeakOf]

@@raydahgray2893 heat itself is not useful, a temperature difference is. heat degrades solar cells btw.

[@axelpatrickb.pingol3228]

@@NoHandleToSpeakOf Not to mention the crazy maintenance needed to keep the panels working in a place that is not only hot but windy as well...

[@XOPOIIIO]

Plants need CO2 for growing. I wonder how the rise in CO2 level affected crops rate and trees growth. Did plants become growing faster, or not?

[@boRegah]

Everyone having his own car is a luxury we can't afford anymore. In cities public transportation needs to be expanded big time (all electric with renewable energy), long journeys can be taken by train and when driverless cars become reliable enough we all share cars that never stand still (for example when we are at work for 8 hours) reducing the numbers needed overall. Centralized fleets of autonomous cars can make traveling in rural areas more energy effective without individual car owning. At least, I believe, in densely populated Europe that could work. CO2 neutral fuel could make it all work with less rare earth consuming lithium ion batteries.

[@luanllluan]

to start with Bowie is a master move

[@amologusmogusmogumogu2535]

Really disappointed that the 'alternative fuels' aren't named in the video

[@Randomgen77]

4:08 innovators are part of overcoming the green premium; the other part is regulation. The regulations, fines, and taxes on fossil fuels should reflect the “hidden costs” of the industry, which harms human health, property values, other industries like agriculture/fishing, etc.

[@joshuaprice1]

Great video

[@harshmeena8655]

"And I've been putting out fire with gasoline" Lyric from "Cat _______ " by david Bowie

[@vintagerock547]

People

[@vaughnjohnson8767]

People. Oh you already said

[@maxhill9254]

thx!

[@alien3143]

Wow so fast recommendation so far in my youtube journey

[@apurvlall7552]

Very very nice educational video

[@tonykhang1984]

nice, thanks i leaned a lot

[@memyselfandi1839]

Did you slouch?

[@tonykhang1984]

@@memyselfandi1839 no?

[@memyselfandi1839]

I'll let that sink in for a moment

[@dominickaine]

jpnewPic88.Men

[@tonykhang1984]

@@memyselfandi1839 hmmmmmmmm

[@m3talh3ad18]

What’s the best fuel for your car? Wrong question. Reduce using a car and adopt public transportation whenever possible would be a good step to a greener environment.

[@truckrobo147]

You all gotta get scotty kilmer to give car advice since he's a pro when it comes to cars