Many modern vehicles already use hydraulic power for certain functions, namely power steering and brakes. Companies such as UPS, though, see potential in using hydraulic systems as part of a hybrid drivetrain. While nobody is expecting a hybrid hydraulic system to be able to store enough energy to achieve miles-upon-miles of driving distance, the frequent stopping and restarting of some vehicles - delivery trucks, to name just one obvious example - make them excellent candidates for possible hydraulic technology.

Pump on over to Number 7.

There are many believers in alternative fuels these days, be it biodiesel, ethanol or butanol, who wish to share their knowledge and passion about the energy potential of renewables to the masses. One way that some choose to do this is by creating high-powered vehicles and attempting to set land speed records. We have seen it with the E85 Viper and now we see it with Die Moto, a custom motorcycle which has been designed to run on biodiesel and WVO. The vehicle is built using BMW parts for both the motorcycle chassis and transmission and the engine, which is from a diesel BMW available in Europe. Read more about their attempts here.

While we are on the subject of diesel motorcycles, I thought I would share some other enterprising DIY builds. Check this one out, it is a custom frame built to house a single cylinder diesel engine made by Hatz. And this one is especially interesting to me, because it uses not only a diesel engine, but also a custom designed hydraulic transmission to send the power to the rear wheel. How does this work? The same as hydrostatic transmission in tractors do. Click here for an explanation. The hydrostatic bike was made by Hydraulic Innovations. Cool, huh?

[Sources: The Kneeslider, The Crucible, Leongardt and Hydraulic Innovations]