Double Your Mileage Per Gallon? (solar, wireless, better, companies)

[sailordave]

Some people do dangerous and illegal things to improve their mpg. Modest and legal things you can do include inflating tires to your vehicle's recommendation usually located inside driver's door frame or owner's manual, use cruise control at posted speed limit when safe to do so, take foot off gas to coast some distance before stop signs or stop lights, learn to time traffic lights (example, start coasting early when red so you're still moving when it turn's green), get the junk out of the trunk (clean out the car to reduce weight), and no hard acceleration starts. Depending on your roads and how you drive, you may gain 2 to 4 mpg. I have a 2003 Chevrolet Malibu with a 3.1L V6 and I now average 22mpg with AC on and 23 to 24 mpg without the AC.

[BECLAZONE]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

One companies loss is another companies gain.

The oil industry got annihilated back in the 80's and 90's resulting in massive consolidation. As a result the remaining oil companies are some of the largest companies in the world.

Such is the risk of investing.

What's really fun is having people upset that the largest companies in the world are making the largest dollar profits. It makes me want to cry for the state of education in certain sectors of this country.

Ironically, such an invention would seriously set back alternative fuel, electric etc. vehicles.....just like cheap gas killed those projects decades ago.

I hadn’t thought of it from that angle. Definitely another way to make more enemies.

[BECLAZONE]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

Beclazone, the question itself is impossible. Internal combustion engines are ALL limited by the Carnot cycle. An auto engine is already fairly close to the limits, and there simply is no room left for an improvement that would double mileage.

I’m not sure the Carnot cycle applies to this, or governs the outcome.

[BECLAZONE]

Originally Posted by snofarmer

Sounds like a set up post. double your mileage.

Those hydrogen kits don't work.

No hydrogen.

[BECLAZONE]

Originally Posted by jimboburnsy

Yes. That's the sort of secret that has the potential to make your grandkids rich.

It may well do, but I think I will keep it to myself for the moment.

[BECLAZONE]

Originally Posted by dspguy

I think the OP makes an assumption that there is only one way to "double your mileage." If you double your mileage, in theory you may go twice as long without filling up. This is true... but what if you cut your use in half and go twice as long without filling up?

That's a tall order to cut it in half. Its not really possible to make a gas engine more efficient. As harry mentioned, ICE are near their limits right now. Drivers can choose to purchase more efficient vehicles than what they currently own.

Another change drivers can make is to simply drive less. How much this helps is dependent on the individual's circumstances. However, if drivers schedule all their errands around town on the same day, that cuts usage. If they shop at the nearest store instead of their preferred store, that also would help.

Also consider the possibility of working a 4-day work week instead of a 5-day work week. This would be a paradigm change that would require cooperation from various businesses and their employees. While not likely, even if a company did "rolling 4-day work weeks" where someone was always in the office Mon-Fri (or Sat/Sun as applicable) and some employees were off every day... that would cut down on many people's gas usage by a little under 20%.

There are things drivers can do to lower usage other than rely on the (somewhat impossible) efficiency increases to the ICE.

The problem here is that the modern industrial world has developed on the assumption that there will always be never-ending supply of fuel. Almost every aspect of our lives relies on getting about. We would need a total restructure of society, with everything that one needs being within easy reach. Even then, the need for goods transportation is still there.

[BECLAZONE]

Originally Posted by sailordave

Some people do dangerous and illegal things to improve their mpg. Modest and legal things you can do include inflating tires to your vehicle's recommendation usually located inside driver's door frame or owner's manual, use cruise control at posted speed limit when safe to do so, take foot off gas to coast some distance before stop signs or stop lights, learn to time traffic lights (example, start coasting early when red so you're still moving when it turn's green), get the junk out of the trunk (clean out the car to reduce weight), and no hard acceleration starts. Depending on your roads and how you drive, you may gain 2 to 4 mpg. I have a 2003 Chevrolet Malibu with a 3.1L V6 and I now average 22mpg with AC on and 23 to 24 mpg without the AC.

Nothing dangerous or illegal here.

I could add to that list.

[DCforever]

Originally Posted by BECLAZONE

I’m not sure the Carnot cycle applies to this, or governs the outcome.

Might not be Carnot cycle, but it will still have to obey the laws of thermodynamics.

[harry chickpea]

I purposely used Carnot because it gives the overview of the laws showing how just about all heat based engines have to work, which, once understood, quickly rules out any mileage doubling schemes at a fundamental level. I also like the pun. The more common description for gas engines is the Otto cycle. That is an audio pun.

Mileage improvements, as mentioned, resolve down to reducing friction and the supportive ideas of reducing weight and better driving. Consider that a mass in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. You have a vehicle that weighs a ton. In a vacuum, with no friction to deal with, the 1/4 cup of gas needed to get the car up to speed could propel it around the world a thousand times or more.

Starting and stopping require energy. The energy required is related to the mass. Where a surface is not frictionless the friction has a co-efficient and computations have a mass component. Mileage and fuel efficiency could be greatly improved if our roads were more like railroad tracks.

If you really want to see how we could revolutionize transportation and double, treble or quadruple current efficiencies, take a look here:

Chickpea Soup: High speed passenger rail

The entry is fairly long, and has the audacity to build upon historical facts and trends before exposing the idea itself. Get a cup of coffee and read it slowly. If I've done my job of exposing the idea, you will realize just how outdated our transportation systems are.

[sunsprit]

Originally Posted by PacificFlights

the EcoBoost engine is not currently being planned for use in the USA for only two reasons and politics has NOTHING to do with it.

Ford determined that the maximum size of a car that would use the engine was too small for american consumers. Even with the high gas milage, it would be a novelty car that would never make it into mainstream and the cost to import them would be too high for anyone to want to buy. Americans want certain things in their cars and gas milage isn't always the main thing. This was purely and only a profit economic decission by FORD!

The second issue was the engine material made the engines only suitable in some areas. because the USA goes from dry arid deserts to icy cold snowed in winters, From low humidity to saunas, they would need 3 different engines to accomodate the wide range of enviromental conditions. An engine sold for a car in Tucson AZ would have problems if taken and driven in Minot ND. The areas where the engione is now being used do not have so many enviromental swings that any issues would be monior compared to the USA where people expect the engines to work the same no matter where they are.

The EcoBoost is in production and is approved for use in the USA, just that Ford decided its not going to be a money maker compared to what they already have and people are willing to buy and the potential problems with amaericans mobil population can cause too many consumer complaints. Ford and only Ford killed its use in the USA.

EcoBoost has nothing to do with the motor development program I mentioned ... the exotic materials unit was tested in full-size Ford Taurus cars and through a wide range of conditions to deliver the 100 mpg and performance they were looking.

I heard about this program directly from a top level Ford exec, and a year later it received some modest publicity mention in some trade tech magazines, just about the time that Ford dropped this motor from development for the reasons I mentioned. The information I got was directly from the Ford exec ... who had hoped to see the motor brought to further development and into the market.