Electric Vehicles

• Directory: Electric Vehicles - In a recent cost analysis Electric Vehicles were shown to have the lowest fuel cost among alternative fuel vehicles.

Hybrid Vehicles

• Directory: Hybrid Vehicles - Hybrid Vehicles are vehicles that run on a combination of fuels, usually petroleum and electricity. Plug-in hybrid conversion kits for the Toyota Prius push the mileage up to 100 mpg. Other technology allows a regular car to be converted to a hybrid.

Three-Wheelers

• Prototype for one-metre wide, eco-friendly car unveiled in Britain (http://www.physorg.com/news65163995.html) - A team of European scientists has developed a "CLEVER (http://www.bath.ac.uk/mech-eng/en-proj20/index.html)" vehicle that combines the safety of a micro-car and the maneuverability of a motorbike, while being more fuel-efficient and less polluting than other vehicles. (PhysOrg; April 25, 2006)

Concept cars

• Kids Build Soybean Fueled Sports Car - High school kids (including drop-outs) design car that can go from zero to 60 in four seconds and get more than 50 miles to the gallon on soy bean oil. (PESN; Feb. 28)

• 2005 Tour de Sol skirts 100 mpg  - Over 60 hybrid, electric and biofuel vehicles from throughout the U.S. and Canada demonstrated that we have the technology today to power our transportation system with zero-oil consumption and zero climate-change emissions.

• 'Fishy' 70-mpg diesel concept car unveiled  - DaimlerChrysler project was shaped by a tropical fish. Combined city/highway driving delivers about 70 mpg, DaimlerChrysler said, while highway driving at 55 mph gets around 84 mpg.

• 40mpg.org  lists 86 cars with a combined city/highway rating of 40mpg or better that are not currently available in the U.S. Note, most of the high mpg vehicles are TDI diesels. They are not sold in America, because pump diesel in America has too much sulphur.

• Volkswagen 1-litre concept car  - the world's most economical road car: 285 mpg.

• Jetcar  from Denmark

• Ford's P2000 Diata  - A revolutionary family car prototype that gets 63 miles to the gallon, equipped with a, 1.2-liter DIATA (Direct Injection, Aluminum Through-bolt Assembly) compression-ignition direct-injection engine.
  • Ford Unveils Hybrid Electric Car  - The P2000 DIATA hybrid uses exotic, light-weight materials. The tiny DIATA engine boasts an impressive 40% thermal energy efficiency, making it 35% more efficient than a conventional gasoline engine. Like a diesel engine, the DIATA uses high heat from compression to ignite the fuel rather than a spark plug.

Ballast

• Loremo's 157 mpg economy comes from balloon  - Built on the principle of "Whoever sheds ballast, will pick up speed," the diesel Laremo, due out in 2009, gets 157 mpg and a top speed of 100 mph. (TreeHugger; Feb. 27, 2006)

Compressed Air

• The air car  runs on compressed air instead of fuel. In the single energy mode MDI cars consume less than one euro every 100Km. (around 0.75 Euros) that is to say, 10 times less than gasoline powered cars.
• ZEVCAT, INC.  stands for Zero-Emission Vehicle with Compressed Air Technology. This California company intends to sell the MDI air car.
• Engineair Pty Ltd  is developing a rotary compressed air motor . With a minimum of moving parts it is highly efficient. Prototypes have been installed in test vehicles, and there are plans to license the technology to car builders.
• (CNN) -- A Korean company has created a car engine that runs on air.  - The engine, which powers a pneumatic-hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), works alongside an electric motor to create the power source.
• Pneumatic Options Research Library  - air car research since 1979

TDI Diesels

European TDI (Turbo Direct Injection) Diesels produced by VW and Audi, notably the 1.9 TDI , showed high performance, high torque, and 50 mpg combined mileage, were all possible in a single engine. (Note: this seems to be in UK gallons. The Audiworld link states 5.3l/100km, which is 44 mpg US gallons). The 1.9 TDI  revolutionised the diesel market. Since then BMW have produced an equivalent TDI part, and Honda have just followed. Small car TDIs can do up to 80 mpg (US gallons), which is better than gas-electric hybrid cars. TDIs have only been sold in 45 states in the US because pump diesel has an excessive sulphur content, making it hard to meet emissions standards in the 5 CARB states. This limits the choices some Americans have in buying fuel efficient vehicles. However, new EPA standards  require sulfur content to be reduced from 500 parts per million to only 15 ppm by October 2006, giving Americans access to ultra low sulfur diesel . Unfortunatly, the diesel emissions requirements in the US are also getting stricter at the same time. WV is not selling any 2007 Passat, Golf, Jetta, or Beetle TDI models in the US because of this.

High mpg diesels are expected to be 50% of new sales in Europe shortly, drastically reducing the need for foreign gas/oil imports compared to the low mpg USA car market. Even more amazing, and unknown to many Americans, companies such as Ford and GM are selling high mpg diesels abroad, but not in America itself. TDI technology has been in mass production in Europe since 1990 , but as of 2006, has yet to make it to the USA in any real sales volume, due in large part to the fuel issue.

(note: MPG numbers below are in UK gallons...US gallon MPGs are 17% lower)

• TDIclub Website dedicated to TDI motor technology

• Ford Focus TDCi  - Ford's new Duratorq diesel. Reportedly good for 200,000 miles, as well as offering excellent performance and 50 mpg + fuel economy.

• The Volkswagen Lupo 3L TDI  the world's most fuel efficient production car at 101.6 mpg

• Audi A2 1.2 TDI  95 mpg from the same engine technology as the Lupo

• Honda's new Diesel Accord 2.2 i-CTDi Sport  achieved 3.07 litres / 100 km (92 mpg)

• Toyota Yaris  A 60mpg small car diesel

• Ford Fiesta 1.4 litre TDCi  A 60mpg small car diesel, as usual, sold only in Europe

• Do diesels have a future? - Article lists more high mileage diesel cars.

• Spreadsheet of world's most efficient production line vehicles  - Note how many are European diesels, not available to American consumers, but often manufactured by American companies.

Some people continue to think the 10-20% higher fuel density of diesel is the only reason for the improved fuel economy of diesel engines. When you consider the Audi 1.9 TDI  does 50 mpg in real world driving, this is far beyond what could be explained by the difference in fuel density alone. Diesels are genuinely far more efficient. For information on why diesels are more efficient, see Diesel versus Gasoline ..

Gasoline

• British inventor claims to have made world's most fuel efficient car  - A British inventor unveiled a car he claims is the world's most fuel efficient -- capable of doing 8,000 miles (12,875 km) to the gallon (4.5 litres). Competing in the Shell Eco-marathon  this month. (PhysOrg; May 12, 2006)

• Smart Car  from Daimler Chrysler is one of the most fuel-efficient, gas-powered cars on the planet. Americanized by ZAP, Zero Air Pollution®. Combined city/highway average 48mpg.
  • The Green Car Company  sells the smart car in Seattle
  • http://www.smart.com/
  • 100mpg.ca - Smart Car in Canada
  • Smart (automobile)  - From Wikipedia

• VW Golf GT  is powered by an innovative 1.4 liter Twincharger engine with both a supercharger and a turbocharger. The GT hits 62 mph in 7.9 seconds and goes up to 136 mph, while returning an impressive average of 39 mpg. Now available in Europe.

• Toyota Aygo - Combined fuel economy figures: 51 mpg average in the European cycle. Who needs a Prius?!? Not yet available stateside.

• Mitsubishi Carisma 1.8l GDI  (Gasoline Direct Injection) does zero to 60 in 9.7 seconds and has combined fuel consumption of 45.6 mpg Imperial times 0.833 = 38 mpg American

• The Humming Bird has a conventional gasoline engine with a water (H2O) catalyst system (30 mpg+). Two extra tanks carry common water and inject it directly into the combustion, making emissions cleaner and enabling the engine to burn gasolines as low as 75 octane. This can be a savings of up to 25%.

• MyCar Fuel Powered - Single-cylinder engine, air-cooled, rear wheel drive.

Flight

• How Efficient is Flying Nowadays?  - The Airbus A380 introduced to British air recently has the lowest fuel consumption per passenger of any large commercial airliner, requiring less than three litres of fuel per passenger per 100km traveled, making it more fuel-efficient than even the latest hybrid cars. Aviation contributes about 4% of global CO2 emissions, and contributes to "radiative forcing" from its contrails. (The Guardian, UK; May 20, 2006)