Vehicle Fuel Economy - News
Are the most efficient cars V8's?Posted Nov 09
No, they just sound like V8's. What you're hearing is SoundRacer - a device designed to make any car, even the most efficient cars, sound like they're hiding a V8 under the hood. Now you can be both frugal and have the engine noise you always dreamed of.
SoundRacer will give any vehicle the sound of a V8. So the most efficient cars can sound like a rampaging 7 liter sports car. The device plugs into the 12V socket in your car. More...
Ford economic cars to benefit from laser ignition
Posted Aug 09
Research recently completed in England has clearly shown that igniting fuel with a laser instead of spark plugs improves the overall efficency of an internal combustion engine. If laser ignition were built into Ford's economic cars it would definitely further improve their fuel consumption.
This interesting research was carried out at Liverpool University where Ford engineers and university scientists joined forces to do the testing. There is obviously not a lot of further development More...
New Economic Cars From China
Posted Aug 09
New economic cars from China and India will soon be coming our way. These two countries are currently rapidly expanding their output of cars and efficient cars are high on their list of priorities. China, incredibly, is set to become the worlds biggest car producer this year. With lots of cheap labour to call on India and China are going to produce cars that will be super competitive on price and this means we may see small economic cars breaking new grounds in terms of pricing. The question that remains to be answered is what level of quality can they deliver in a budget economic car. We shall have to wait and see.
The Chinese auto industry is set to produce almost 11 million vehicles this year, overtaking both the US and Japanese to become the worlds largest car maker. This is quite amazing considering we currently don't see any Chinese cars on our roads and this is what China hopes to change. If China can crack the international market their car output will sky rocket even further. India produced 2.3 million cars last year, and are also in a stage of rapid expansion.
The two countries are in a good position for international growth because cheap efficient cars are one of the few growth areas More...
Turbosteamers Could Lead To More Efficient Cars
Posted Jul 09
BMW have discovered a great new technology to give us efficient cars. Car engines are quite inefficient and one of the ways they waste a lot of energy is in heat. The idea behind BMW's new turbosteamer is that some of this heat energy is recaptured by using the heat to power a small steam engine! More...
US House approves vouchers designed to improve vehicle fuel economy
Posted Jun 09
In an attempt to improve vehicle fuel economy across the US, the US House of Representatives have approved a bill to provide vouchers of up to $4,500 for customers to trade in their old cars and buy new fuel-efficient cars.
The bill was approved by 298 votes against 119 and would require four billion dollars to be allocated to the program. The bill is expected to encourage the purchase of one million new vehicles and would run for one year. New vehicles must have a better fuel economy than the cars being traded in.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, "this bill is quite a remarkable piece of legislation and the timing is perfect. And when they trade in these cars, they will strengthen America's auto industry, creating jobs and reducing layoffs and save more than 250 million gallons of gas."
The bill now lies in the hands of the US Senate, who must also approve it. Finally it would be sent to President Barack Obama for his signature to become law.
Vehicle fuel economy - Mazda commits to improving its figures
Posted Apr 09
Mazda is aiming to improve its vehicle fuel economy by 30 per cent by 2015 in response to rising fuel prices and increasing concerns about the environment.
Mazda will introduce various technologies that will combine to improve its vehicle fuel economy. Mazda will develop new, more efficient engines for its entire range of vehicles and employ a “smart idle stop system” as early as 2009. This technology can shut the engine down when the car is stationary – similar to a hybrid car – thus increasing vehicle fuel economy. Mazda also says it will begin using lightweight materials and technologies to reduce the weight of its vehicles “by 100 kilograms or more”, which will increase fuel economy further.
The move to improve vehicle fuel economy by as much as 30 per cent would reduce fuel use by as much as 3.9 litres per 100km (L/100km), saving 780 litres of fuel per year when driving 20,000km.
Mazda’s current most economical car is the Mazda 2, which uses 6.4L/100km, a figure that would be decreased to 4.5L/100km if 30 per cent reductions were achieved. That’s around the same vehicle fuel economy as a hybrid car. The current Toyota Prius hybrid car – a larger, better equipped, but more expensive vehicle – has a fuel economy of 4.4L/100km.
Vehicle fuel economy - Australian showrooms forced to display realistic data
Posted Mar 09
From April 1st 2009 Australian car makers must display both the urban (city) and extra urban (highway) vehicle fuel economy figures on cars in showrooms. Previously, they only had to display a combined vehicle fuel economy figure, which was skewed towards highway driving and hid the real fuel economy of some cars in typical day to day driving.
This is a big step forward in enlightening consumers about vehicle fuel economy since some larger cars can use almost twice as much fuel in the city as in the country. For example the Holden Commodore Calais V6 uses 15.8l/100km in the city versus a fuel economy of 8.6l/100km on the open road. A government spokesman said "most people would intuitively know their cars use more fuel in the city than on the highway but the labels will help to quantify the difference."
Not only will the new vehicle fuel economy figures give motorists more information about the cost of running a car but it also allows a more informed choice about the environmental impact of a certain vehicle.
The new information will be loaded onto the governments Green Vehicle Guide website and motorists will be able to use an online calculator to work out how much they will save on their fuel bill if they change to a more economical vehicle.
Before 2003, vehicle makers were required to display city fuel economy figures but from 2003 to 2009 they only had to provide an average vehicle fuel economy figure which was based on 37 per cent city driving and 63 per cent highway driving.
City vehicle fuel economy figures will be calculated by a dynamometer test at an average speed of 19km/h and will include idling, followed by a series of stops and starts. Highway vehicle fuel economy figures will be calculated at an average speed of 63km/h and will include acceleration up to 120km/h.
Learn
Best Mileage CarsCar Fuel Mileage
Fuel efficiency figures explained
Improve Fuel Economy
Fuel efficiency on the web