Cars consuming alcohol may sound crazy, but believe it or not - nearly 80 pc of the cars produced in Brazil in the '80s were alcohol-powered (ethanol and methanol). Brazil unveiled the world's first alcohol-powered car after the oil crisis in the '70s, tapping its rich supplies of sugarcane. But frequent strikes by sugarcane workers caused alcohol to dry up, sending prices soaring. By 1997, less than one percent of new cars were alcohol-powered. Both ethanol and methanol are still used as transportation fuels and are likely to play an important role in the future |