Alternative energy for vehicles has come a long way, but unfortunately we are not yet at a point where we can go without gasoline. Hybrid cars, however, are the first step to the future.Finding alternative energy for vehicles will eliminate the need to purchase oil from other countries. The less we need to depend on other countries for our transportation needs the better. It is also a good way to be earth friendly because vehicles that use this technology will not emit pollutants into our atmosphere like gasoline powered vehicles do.Our dependencies on other countries and the oil that they have along with the air pollution problem will fuel the search to find a alternative energy for vehicles that is user friendly. Most vehicles that utilize some of the alternative energies available today have their downfalls along with their specific benefits to our environment.Electric vehicles use batteries that need to be recharged about every 150 miles. This can be time consuming as most batteries require four to eight hours of charging before you can hit the road again. Hybrid vehicles use the same method as the electric vehicles but they don't need to be plugged in to recharge. They recharge themselves by using regenerative braking and still have the power of a gasoline engine. The electricity used in a hybrid vehicle allows a smaller more efficient gasoline powered engine to be used and the electric is generated to add extra power to the motor when needed.Alternative energy for vehicles has come a long way since the idea began when the first hybrid electric vehicle came onto the market. Advances in how alternative energy works in vehicles has been used to produce a fuel cell vehicle. Fuel Cell Vehicles are expected to be very popular and widely seen on our roads in the future.New developments with fuel cell vehicles that are powered by pure hydrogen will change the way we look at alternative energy for vehicles. These vehicles will be powered by a certain form of hydropower. This means that they will produce no harmful air pollutants into our atmosphere like gasoline powered vehicles do. Instead, the waste from the production of electricity will be water. This, of course, represents a more than slight improvement over the carbon dioxide currently produced.As new information is discovered about how pollutants have an affect on our atmosphere and the world around us, more people will consider owning a alternative energy vehicle. With the possibility of oil prices soaring in the near future, an alternative will be welcomed by most people who have the resources to purchase one of these alternative energy vehicles. We are not yet at a point where we can have a true alternative energy vehicle, but it is only a matter of improving the technology of batteries and such.