fuelefficiency

It looks like 9-speeds (or maybe 10) will be the upper limit for automatic trans… 2

This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged fuelefficiency Google+ transmission on by (updated 4486 days ago)

It looks like 9-speeds (or maybe 10) will be the upper limit for automatic transmissions.

When I was studying engineering back in the late 1980s, three-speed automatic transmissions were still the dominant configuration and 4-speed units were just starting to hit mainstream vehicles. By the late 90s, 5 and 6-speed units were starting to arrive. Today 6-speed units are dominant but German transmission manufacturer ZF is pushing hard with its 8-speed automatic which was recently to several Chrysler models.

Last year at the Detroit Auto Show, ZF and Chrysler announced the development of a new 9-speed automatic for front wheel drive applications and Hyundai announced work on a 10-speed. 

The problem is that every time you add more gears, it increases the complexity and weight of the hardware. While more gears allow the engineers to keep the engine running closer to its sweet spot for efficiency, power or torque (unfortunately it's usually not the same spot), as you approach 100% efficiency (never actually achievable) the incremental gains gets smaller while the costs get larger. 

ZF is now acknowledging the 9 (or 10) speeds may be the practical upper limit. 
#transmission   #fuelefficiency  

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While this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans ended up being a bit of a disappointment…

This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged ALMS americanlemansseries fuelefficiency Google+ lemans on by (updated 4505 days ago)

While this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans ended up being a bit of a disappointment from a purely competitive standpoint thanks to the early retirement of the +TOYOTA s and the cancellation of the Peugeot race program earlier this year, it was not a total waste.

In fact it was quite a strong demonstration of the message that American Le Mans Series CEO Scott Atherton has been spreading since at least 2008. Ever since the launch of the ALMS Green Challenge that year, Atherton has been playing up the relevance of Le Mans-style sports car racing to manufacturers of road cars.

For five years +Audi International and later +Peugeot  have been demonstrating the ability of diesel engines to provide before performance and fuel efficiency. Here in the US, a plurality of the competitors run on cellulosic E85 and the Dyson Racing team has been running biobutanol for two years.

This weekend in France, Audi and Toyota both demonstrated the performance and efficiency of hybrid power while +Highcroft Racing and the +Nissan DeltaWing showed the possibilities of light weight, low drag and downsized engines, all of which will factor into new cars in the coming years. Next year we will see the first hydrogen fuel cell car run at Le Mans.

What advancements have we ever seen from NASCAR? If we are going to race cars, the Le Mans approach is definitely the way to go.

#Lemans #fuelefficiency #americanlemansseries #alms  

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Green Fuels Forecast, web-based coverage of the alternative fuel automotive sector including batteries, electric and hybrid drive, diesel, hydrogen and biofuels

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It' looks like the Audis may have a very important advantage over the Toyotas… 1

This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged audi fuelefficiency Google+ lemans toyota on by (updated 4510 days ago)

It' looks like the Audis may have a very important advantage over the Toyotas at Le Mans today. As the cars were doing their second round of pit stops Johnny Mowlem mentioned that the gas-hybrid electric Toyotas were running 10 laps per tank while the diesel diesel-hybrid Audis were able to go 11 laps.

At a race like Le Mans where the track is 8.5 miles long, going an extra lap between stops can make a huge difference over 24 hours. When the cars are being fueled, no other work like tire changes can be done until the fueling is finished. The longer they can run between stops, the better the odds of victory. This has been a critical part of Audis success over the past decade.
#lemans #audi #toyota #fuelefficiency  

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Ideally, if you are going to write a regulation aimed at achieving a goal, it should… 3

This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged cafe electricvehicles fuelefficiency Google+ on by (updated 4522 days ago)

Ideally, if you are going to write a regulation aimed at achieving a goal, it should be written so that it's technology neutral and for the most part the US Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) rules are just that. The bottom line aim of CAFE is to reduce the amount of energy used for road transportation in the United States. 

Back in 2007 when the current requirements were passed by congress, many outside observers felt that requiring automakers to hit a fleet average of 35 mpg or more by 2020 would require large numbers of plug-in electric vehicles. While there will undoubtedly be a certain percentage of new vehicles running on electrons by the end of the decade, many in the auto industry started looking at the latest available engine technologies and came to the realization that they could actually achieve the required improvements without a big, heavy battery pack at a much lower cost and without sacrificing the flexibility of liquid fuels. 

The problem lies in the fact that as fuel efficiency increases, the percentage of savings from each incremental improvement drops as I explained in this article I wrote several years ago.
http://green.autoblog.com/2009/07/23/greenlings-where-are-the-most-important-mpg-increases-at-the-u/

If you can achieve a real world 50+ mpg in a midsize car at a price of $25-30,000 it becomes much harder to justify the cost and limitations of a battery electric vehicle. The combination of downsized engines with advanced combustion technology and hybridization will probably be the volume play by the end of the decade.
#fuelefficiency   #cafe   #electricvehicles  

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How tough CAFE delays EV acceptance
As you may have noticed, the industry's enthusiasm for electric vehicles has dimmed considerably in the past year. You could cite several reasons: election-year attacks on the Obama administration…

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If you've been considering a buying a new hybrid vehicle you've no doubt… 3

This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged fuelefficiency Google+ hybrid on by (updated 4537 days ago)

If you've been considering a buying a new hybrid vehicle you've no doubt noticed that there is a significant price premium associated with adding electric drive motors and big batteries to a vehicle. You will almost certainly have lowering operating costs thanks to the regenerative braking and electric assist, but several things factor into how long it will take for those savings to overcome that initial premium.

Over at FuelEconomy.gov they've put together a nice little calculator that estimates the payback period of a hybrid compared to its conventional alternative. Hybrids get most of their benefit from recapturing kinetic energy during braking, saving it in the battery and then returning it to propulsion through the motor. If you do most of your driving on the highway, the benefits of a hybrid will be limited, but if most of your commuting is stop and go urban traffic, the payback will be a lot quicker so make sure you adjust the slider for how much city driving you do.

In general for the average driver that does about 15,000 miles and 55% in the city, the payback for most hybrids is about 4-5 years.
#hybrid #fuelefficiency

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Hybrid Compare
These are some hybrid models that may pay you back quickly when compared to a similarly equipped non-hybrid model. Select a model to see how it compares based on your fuel prices and annual miles.

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Ben Wojdyla does a good job of explaining how EPA fuel economy estimates are determined… 1

This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged fuelefficiency Google+ mileage on by (updated 4642 days ago)

Ben Wojdyla does a good job of explaining how EPA fuel economy estimates are determined and testing a couple of todays more efficient compact cars, the Ford Focus and Hyundai Elantra.

Anyone comparing their real world mileage to the new car sticker must remember this, Your Mileage WILL Vary!

Both cars met or exceeded the label estimates but the conditions during the test were also pretty optimal with temperatures in the 40s that meant no air conditioning, heat or window defoggers were needed. The tests were also run during the day negating the need for headlights. All of these factors reduce the drain on the engine and the lack of traffic during the mid-day testing also eased the load.

I just have one small nit to pick with Ben's explanation of the EPA test procedure and it also affects real world efficiency. Ben described the fuel used during EPA testing as 100% gasoline. While Ben meant that there is no ethanol blended in as there is with most pump gas sold in the US, there is in fact no such thing as pure gasoline.

Gasoline as we know it is a blend of primarily heptane and octane (hydrocarbon compounds with 7 and 8 carbon atoms respectively) along with a number of other chemicals such as detergents and stabilizers. The exact blend of gas you get from the pump in various parts of the country varies depending on the location and time of the year. The blends are adjusted for factors like altitude, humidity and temperature to ensure easy starting in cold weather and thin air. The specific blend affects the mileage you get. However, the EPA uses a specific standard blend for all certification tests so that the results can be compared.

#fuelefficiency #mileage

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Mileage Moment of Truth – We Put 40 Mpg Claims to the Test
The 2012 Hyundai Elantra and Ford Focus SFE are among 20-plus cars that now claim 40 mpg highway. But given the peculiar way in which the EPA calculates its fuel economy estimates, do those mileage nu…

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