3 Responses

1. I have 2 cars that run on natural gas, and it’s difficult to find anyone who knows anything about them. They are regular Fords in every other way except the fuel system. So far it’s like voodoo when you try and talk to a mechanic regarding them, so if you’d like to specialize, I’d say go for the natural gas ones. They are here and now. I think you can just become a certified mechanic for regular cars and then take specialized courses for alternative fuel vehicles. You’ll be in demand, I can tell you that! The Ford dealers around here just give funny looks when I say I have natural gas cars, then they back away as if the cars had a disease or something. The few guys who do conversions make big bucks. You’ll be way ahead of the game if you get into alternative fueled cars – I say go for it and good luck to you!

2. Ethanol, hydrogen, natural gas and gasoline powered engines work the same way except for the fuel systems. The electrical, cooling and exhaust systems are exactly the same. The suspensions and steering systems are identical. The effect on mechanics will be minimal. Fuel systems are so reliable today that they seldom need repair except for replacing fuel pumps. That will be the same for any liquid fuel. For gaseous fuels you will need to learn about pressure regulators and leak detection. Other than that, they are very similar.

3. By corn I assume you mean ethanol. This is a minor change to existing vehicles, especially at 10% or less ethanol-to-gas. At higher ratios, some changes to the fuel line are needed (this is similar to diesel versus vegetable oil). Hydrogen (as in fuel cells, although it can run in an ICE as well) won’t be happening in any meaningful numbers during your career, so don’t worry about that. Natural gas is a fairly easy conversion from standard gasoline engines (as mentioned earlier), and this is a viable alternative already in use.
   Electric of course, is considerably different. It could be just a replacement of the engine and gas tank (and radiator, manifold, exhaust system) with an electric motor and batteries. Then the motor still engages the transmission, while the brakes, steering, etc. remain the same. The heater would need to be changed as it can no longer use engine heat. Other possibilities include putting a motor in the hub of each wheel and using drive-by-wire (like the Prius does) instead of power steering and power brakes (so the car can choose between regenerative brakes and regular friction brakes). In general electric vehicles are simpler because the engine, coolant, exhaust and emission controls systems are all taken out, but it definitely changes the game.