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Increasing shortages of energy resources as well as emission legislation development is increasing the pressure to develop more efficient, environmentally friendly propulsion systems for vehicles. Alternatives such as fuel cell systems or hybrid propulsion are in discussion or have already been introduced. This paper gives a survey on the present technical status of internal combustion engines, hybrid concepts and current fuel cell vehicles. Different solutions will be presented, so that an evaluation of advantages and drawbacks can be given. The further potentials of each concept, as well as combinations of different systems are discussed, and an outlook into the future is given.

This paper describes the performance of a new, catalytically acting cerium-based fuel additive in relation to particulate trap regeneration quality, trap filtration efficiency, particle size distribution and fate of additive under steady-state engine operation conditions. The impact of the cerium fuel additive is compared to ferrocene respectively copper based fuel additives. The cerium-based fuel additive DPX6 lower the ignition temperature down to 200 °C. Frequent, so-called quasi-continuous, and smooth regenerations are induced by the cerium fuel additive in that temperature range. Thus, the regeneration quality is quite different to the stochastic and rapid oxidation known from ferrocene and copper. Out of this, the thermal stress with cerium fuel additive will be lower even when regenerations start at comparable high trap loading.