With gas prices as high as $4 a gallon in summer months, automobile industries have been assessing ways to give us more miles per gallon. It is all about burning gas efficiently and being “eco-friendly.”

Recently imposed government mileage regulations will force automobile companies to produce cars averaging 54.5 MPG by 2025. Meaning: in 13 years the average car will be burning as much gas as today’s hybrids.

How is this possible?

 

 

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““The average car in 2025 will get the kind of mileage that today’s Toyota Prius hybrid gets, but we’re not talking about some futuristic technology,” said Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Campaign, a Washington organization that promotes efforts to mitigate global warming. “Most of the changes will be invisible to the consumers and achieved with better engines, transmissions and aerodynamics.”

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Smaller Cars:

This one is pretty simple– The smaller the car, the more miles you will get out of each gallon of gas.

Grand SUVs may offer lots of leg room and get great pick-up, however they are also much heavier and cost much more to fill up than lighter more compact sedans. Car companies are all racing to find the lightest, safest materials to use in there newest creations.

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Direct-injection technology:

Gasoline direct injection (GDI), also known as petrol direct injection or direct petrol injection, is a variant of fuel injection employed in modern two-stroke and four-stroke gasoline engines. (wiki)

These mixtures are much leaner than in a conventional engine and reduce fuel consumption considerably.

• Ultra lean burn mode is used for light-load running conditions, at constant or reducing road speeds, where no acceleration is required. The fuel is not injected at the intake stroke but rather at the latter stages of the compression stroke, so that the small amount of air-fuel mixture is optimally placed near the spark plug. This stratified charge is surrounded mostly by air, which keeps the fuel and the flame away from the cylinder walls for lowest emissions and heat losses. The combustion takes place in a toroidal (donut-shaped) cavity on thepiston’s surface.^[1] The cavity is displaced to one side of the piston, the side that has the fuel injector. This technique enables the use of ultra-lean mixtures that would be impossible with carburetors or conventional fuel injection.
• Stoichiometric mode is used for moderate load conditions. Fuel is injected during the intake stroke, creating a homogenous fuel-air mixture in the cylinder. From the stoichiometric ratio, an optimum burn results in a clean exhaust emission, further cleaned by the catalytic converter.
• Full power mode is used for rapid acceleration and heavy loads (as when climbing a hill). The air-fuel mixture is homogenous and the ratio is slightly richer than stoichiometric, which helps prevent knock (pinging). The fuel is injected during the intake stroke

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(eAssist)) EcoBoost technology

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmHxiY2J8Ok

 

EcoBoost is a combination of direct injection and turbocharging, boosting 4 and 6 cylinder engines. The process improves fuel economy by about 10 percent over the conventional V-8.

 

 

 

References:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/14/automobiles/automakers-aim-to-meet-mileage-standards-without-big-sacrifices.html?pagewanted=all

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fordmotorcompany/3191681692/

http://www.youtube.com