Archive for 'Gas Mileage' Category
Low Rolling Resistance Tires Save Gas
21 July 2008Car companies can’t make changes fast enough to suit car buyers. When gasoline made its recent price jump to $4 per gallon, consumers immediately began looking for better mileage, no surprise there, but what can car makers do? Low rolling resistance tires are getting a lot more attention because an existing design can have the [...]
smart USA Launches Cross-Country Road Show
10 May 2007Although the rest of the world has been driving the smart car for years, the US has not been an official market, even though a small number are on the roads here. Starting in 2008, all of that changes as the Mercedes manufactured smart will go on sale in the States and to introduce the [...]
ZF Develops New 8 Speed Automatic Transmission
2 May 2007How many speeds does an automatic transmission need? According to ZF, the answer is 8. Their aim was to minimize fuel consumption while maximizing performance and according to ZF, this new 8 speed delivers a 6 percent fuel saving over their 6 speed and 14 percent over a 5 speed. It requires no more installation [...]
Chrysler Planning Hemi Hybrids
1 May 2007Chrysler is about to make its first foray into hybrid vehicles with the introduction next year of the 2008 Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen SUVs. Unlike some hybrid vehicles, however, these will not have a little 4 cylinder engine or even a V6, instead, these will be equipped with the 5.7-liter Hemi V-8.
Overall fuel efficiency [...]
Performance and Economy - High Mileage Horsepower
16 April 2007The SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) 2007 World Congress will convene in Detroit this week with a theme of “Engineering for Global Sustainable Mobility — It’s Up to Us.” One of their tech sessions is titled “High Performance and Fuel Economy: Can We Have Both?”
Increasing fuel economy while maintaining or even increasing performance is something [...]
Build Your Own 225 mpg Diesel Plug in Hybrid
20 March 2007If the names Trimuter, Tri-Magnum or Urba Electric ring a bell, you probably read a lot of Mechanix Illustrated or Popular Mechanics back in the sixties and seventies. Robert Q. Riley was a prolific designer of these build it yourself vehicles along with many, many more that were available as plans enabling you to construct [...]