Gasoline Car Ideas

Gasoline
Most Gasoline cars are propelled by an internal combustion engine, fueled by the deflagration of gasoline (also known as petrol) or diesel. They generally work by using pistons and a spark igniter to ignite the vaporized fuel, in order to cause combustion and generate forward motion on the piston through the result of heated expanding gases.

The average car in the United States gets roughly 21 miles per gallon, and produces around 15-20 pounds of carbon dioxide and water vapor per gallon. A gallon of gasoline is roughly 6 pounds, however when the weight of the oxygen used in the fuel cycle is calculated, with oxygen being roughly twice as heavy as carbon per atom and two atoms being present per molecule, the addition of the oxygen present in the air adds roughly 3.6-3.7 times more weight, increasing the weight of the carbon present in the gasoline (roughly 5.5 lb) to around 15-20 pounds of carbon dioxide and water vapor. This is not a perfect combustion reaction, however, as carbon monoxide and various other chemicals are produced and not all of the gasoline is generally burned in an engine.

Various new vehicles hope to improve the efficiency of gasoline use, or mpg, which could reduce pollutant emissions and essentially reduce the price of gasoline by reducing the amount required to operate a vehicle. Currently, there are cars that exist that are capable of around 40-50 miles per gallon highway, which are considered relatively fuel efficient, although they are often rare or expensive.

Various diesel engines are capable of achieving better gas mileage, with the average European diesel car getting around 40 miles per gallon. Selling those cars in the United States is difficult however, because of emission standards, notes Walter McManus, a fuel economy expert at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, “For the most part, European diesels don’t meet U.S. emission standards.” Some Super charged diesel engines can get better gas mileage, a notable example being the Smart Fortwo, capable of getting around 69.2 mpg.

Hybrid cars show some promise. They essentially use their engine to power a turbine in order to generate electricity to power the car, generally producing better fuel efficiency. Some Hybrid engines can generate around 35-40 miles per gallon, while many others can produce much more. Notably, the estimated fuel-efficiency rating for the Toyota Prius, using the U.S. EPA combined cycle, is 50 mpg, being one of the first mass produced gasoline hybrids widely available on the market. The 2000 Honda Insight ranks as one of the most fuel efficient United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) certified gasoline-fueled vehicles ever, with a highway rating of around 61 miles per gallon and combined city/highway rating of around 53 miles per gallon. For the Nissan leaf, The US Environmental Protection Agency official range is 117 kilometres (73 mi), with an energy consumption of 765 kilojoules per kilometre (34 kW·h/100 mi) and rated the Leaf's combined fuel economy at 99 miles per gallon gasoline equivalent (2.4 L/100 km). The Leaf has a range of 175 km (109 mi) on the New European Driving Cycle.

Extremely notably, the Aptera 2 series vehicle was notable as it was capable of getting around 300 miles per gallon for the first 120 miles of driving if the battery of the vehicle was charged before departure, and around 130 MPG if it was not. This was in large part attributed to its lightweight aerodynamic frame, although Aptera Motors emphasized that safety was not traded off for efficiency, citing crash test simulations and component crush testing as indicating excellent survivability–on par with more conventional vehicles. Its maximum speed was cited to be around 85 MPH, and it could reach 0-60 mph in roughly 10 seconds. Sadly, the Aptera Company went out of business on December 2, 2011, and is no longer producing the Aptera 2 car and gave the deposits presented by various people back.

An interesting new type of engine is the “Wave Disk Engine”. The "wave-disk engine" has the potential to have better fuel efficiency compared to normal combustion engine designs and can potentially save weight. Possible applications include charging batteries in hybrid vehicles, which could free up about 1,000 pounds of weight. It promises to be up 3.5 times more efficient (to 60%), 30% lighter, 30% cheaper to manufacture than an equivalent conventional piston engine, and to reduce emissions by over 90%.

Michigan State University and Warsaw Institute of Technology researchers claim to have a prototype wave-disk engine and electricity generator that could replace current backup generator technology in plug-in electric hybrid vehicles. The research team is led by the Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Norbert Muller and has been given $2.5 million in funding from the United States Department of Energy's ARPA-E program. Muller's team hopes to have a vehicle-sized 25 kilowatt wave disc engine generator ready by late 2013.

While improved fuel efficiency of cars could help reduce the requirement of gasoline and potentially reduce the price of its use, as well as reduce pollution emissions, ultimately it will always be constrained to gasoline usage and require fossil fuels, which will most likely be progressively harder to obtain, potentially raising its price in the future.

If the United States, for instance, was capable of reducing the gasoline usage (by possibly increasing its fuel efficiency) by three times its amount, then its dependence on foreign oil may be eliminated. At its peak, in 2004 roughly 65% of the United State’s oil use was from foreign sources; the Energy Information Administration projects that U.S. oil imports will remain flat and consumption will grow, so net imports will decline to approximately 54% of U.S. oil consumption by 2030. This means that if the fuel efficiency of most modern vehicles was simply tripled in the United States, then foreign oil reliance could be eliminated. The United States may even produce a surplus of oil each year, reducing the cost of oil or potentially allowing the U.S. to even sell oil to other countries. By simply increasing the fuel efficiency of cars, which on average are only about 20% mechanically efficient, the virtual price of oil could be lowered, emissions could be reduced and our dependence on foreign oil could be eliminated; if such engines could be produced cheaply or in any large amounts, much of the United States (and potentially other countries’) oil and energy problems could be eliminated.

Another possible way to do this would be with carbon fiber- carbon fiber is generally stronger than steel but has 1/5th the density. While expensive, most of its cost of carbon fiber is in energy production as it’s produced from the same line of material as nylon and rayon. By reducing its energy cost (potentially with Thorium other cheap power sources) it may be possible to create carbon fiber frames at a relatively affordable cost. Even reducing the cost of carbon fiber by 1/3 it's amount would put it in line with steel; while it's currently 15 dollar per pound and steel is less than 1, because carbon fiber's density is less than 1/5th the amount of steel (while not sacrificing any strength) it should equate to less than a dollar per unit equivalent, meaning that it's cost would be the same as steel. While the entire vehicle couldn’t be expected to be lowered in weight by 5 times it's amount if it was steel (as there is an engine block, interior, and many other pieces that may remain steel or aluminum or that wouldn’t be reduced in weight as a result of changed material), getting to roughly 3-4 times lighter weight may be a feasible reality. In doing so, it would be directly possible to increase the fuel efficiency, safety and engine life of a vehicle by decreasing its weight by the same amount.