NPR: A Push To Make Gasoline Engines More Efficient

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.npr.org/2011/11/23/142662849/a-push-to-make-gasoline-engines-more-efficient

A Push To Make Gasoline Engines More Efficient

by Sonari Glinton

November 23, 2011

Last in a http://www.npr.org/series/142519154/getting-to-55-mpg">three-part series

The auto industry has work ahead to meet ambitious fuel efficiency goals of 55 mpg by 2025 — nearly twice the current average required. Hybrid and electric cars will play a role, but the plain old internal combustion engine can't be overlooked.

…

"When we talk about 55 mpg, we had that technology, criminy, 20 years ago," says Margaret Wooldridge, who is also a professor at the University of Michigan in the department of mechanical engineering. She says there's a but — in this case, the car driver.

"Like, when was the last time you actually took your hand and rolled down a window?" she asks. "But now there's an expectation that every vehicle, even if it's an entry-level vehicle, will have that kind of creature comfort |power windows|."

…

"I personally owned a vehicle that had over 45 mpg fuel economy when I was in college," Wooldridge says. "And it had a manual transmission, manual windows; it was a great car, |it| lasted forever. It was lightweight, kind of chilly to heat in the winter and all that good stuff."

…

---

(Make that 30+ years ago) and yes, on a road trip, 45 MPG was quite doable.

Of course, I had to crank the windows all by myself, which was necessary, because it had no “Air Conditioning.” (I wonder what kind of mileage it would have gotten if it had been fuel injected…)

[PoliticAverse]

1. They have changed the way they measure fuel economy from back then. n/t

[OKIsItJustMe]

3. It’s true, they have

However, I can tell you from personal experience that those figures were “real world” figures.

[TexasProgresive]

2. In 1992 I drove a diesel Ford Fiesta in Ireland

It got 80MPG - that is not EPA or any kind of estimate but actually factual mileage. It was a great little car-we drove all over without a care for fuel cost even though Irish diesel was quite a bit higher then in the U.S. Oh and it had reasonable acceleration. True more passed me than I passed but hey I was there to see the scenery. And yeah it had manual everything and no AC (who needs AC in Ireland anyway).

[kristopher]

4. The 55mpg standard has nothing to do with a car's ability to achieve 55 mpg

It is a standard required by Corporate Average Fuel Economy regulations.

From wiki:
The Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) are regulations in the United States, first enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1975,<1> and intended to improve the average fuel economy of cars and light trucks (trucks, vans and sport utility vehicles) sold in the US in the wake of the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo. Historically, it is the sales-weighted harmonic mean fuel economy, expressed in miles per US gallon (mpg), of a manufacturer's fleet of current model year passenger cars or light trucks with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 8,500 pounds (3,856 kg) or less, manufactured for sale in the US.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_Average_Fuel_Economy




White House report for the public on new standards:

Driving Efficiency: Cutting Costs for Families at the Pump and
Slashing Dependence on Oil
Introduction
For decades, politicians of every stripe have been talking about the threats posed by our dependence on oil – to consumers, our security, and our environment. One of the most powerful tools we have to reduce our oil dependence is to increase the efficiency of our cars and light trucks, which account for nearly half of U.S. oil consumption. And transportation is the second-highest expense for most American households – right after housing. But when President Obama took office, the fuel economy standard for passenger cars was the same as it had been in 1985.

After decades of inaction in this critical area, President Obama has taken unprecedented steps to increase our vehicle efficiency, announcing fuel economy standards that will nearly double the efficiency of our fleet. In 2009 the President established aggressive fuel economy standards for cars and trucks built in 2011 and announced groundbreaking national fuel efficiency standards and greenhouse gas standards for cars and light-duty trucks built in 2012-2016. By Model Year 2016, those national standards will raise the average fuel economy of new cars and trucks to 35.5 miles per gallon (incorporating efficient gains from air conditioning improvements) and lower greenhouse gases emissions to 250 grams per mile (g/mi), while maintaining consumer choice. At the same time, the Administration established a harmonized program that allows manufacturers to build a single, light-duty national fleet that satisfies all federal requirements as well as those of California and other states.

On July 29, 2011, the President announced the next phase in the Administration's program to increase fuel economy and reduce greenhouse gas pollution for all new cars and trucks sold in the United States. These new standards will cover cars and light trucks for Model Years 2017- 2025, requiring performance equivalent to 54.5 mpg in 2025 while reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 163 grams per mile.

Taken together, the standards established under this Administration span Model Years 2011 to 2025. They will save American families money at the pump, for a total of $1.7 trillion in fuel savings over the life of the program. The standards will cut our oil dependence, reducing oil consumption by an estimated 2.2 million barrels a day in 2025 (eventually reaching more than 4 million barrels a day as the fleet turns over), and saving 12 billion barrels in total over the lifetime of the program. And they will clean up our environment, cutting greenhouse gas emissions by more than 6 billion metric tons over the life of the program, while reducing pollutants like air toxics, cause soot, and smog.

Developed in partnership with auto manufacturers, the State of California, the United Auto Workers (UAW), national environmental organizations, and other stakeholders, these achievable and cost effective standards will bring the nation over halfway to the President’s goal of reducing oil imports by a third by 2025. These standards thus represent a key component of the comprehensive energy policy that this Administration has pursued since day one, which aims to increase safe and responsible energy production at home while reducing our overall dependence on oil with cleaner alternative fuels and greater efficiency. ...

The full 10 page report can be downloaded with this link:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/fuel_economy_report.pdf

You can download the charts from the report with links at the end of this press release.

[OKIsItJustMe]

5. A bit of a mis-direction, don’t you think?

With all of its technology, the 2012 Toyota Prius V gets worse highway mileage than my 1981 Datsun 210 did.
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/bestworst.shtml

The point was that achieving 55MPG is not a technological challenge equivalent to a “moonshot.”

The http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_A_engine#A12A">A12A engine used in the 1981 Datsun 210 did not benefit from the advances in ICE technology since then. (e.g. direct fuel injection, computerized electronic ignition, variable valve timing.)

When the front end became so rusted it was unsafe, I sadly took it to the junkyard, and begged the owner to see that the engine got into another car, because it had served me so faithfully. He shook his head, and said, “I hate to tell you, but no one ever comes looking for these engines… they never die.”

[TheWraith]

6. Again, it is NOT about getting a tiny econobox car to 55 MPG.

It's about that being the AVERAGE fuel economy of vehicles sold in the US, including LIGHT TRUCKS AND SUVS. Under those rules your tiny econobox would probably be looking at more like 75 miles per gallon.

[OKIsItJustMe]

7. Yes, yes, I understand what CAFE is about

However, the whole idea that we need a crash research program to achieve these things is um… “BS.”

Your moniker, “tiny econobox” puts the finger right on the real problem. What, exactly, is wrong with a small car?

Growing up, my idea of a fun car was something like an http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MG_Midget">MG Midget, when everyone else seemed to want a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontiac_Trans_Am#Firebird_Trans_Am">Trans-Am or a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Camaro">Camaro.

[kristopher]

13. Misdirection? That is more like what you are attempting...

The 55 mpg is a direct reference to the CAFE standard.

The purpose of the CAFE standard has nothing to do with learning how to build a 55 mpg automobile.

Requiring the AVERAGE fuel economy rating of a manufacturers fleet of vehicles to be raised to 55 mpg results in research and, more importantly, near term deployment of very high mileage vehicles capable of pulling the AVERAGE fuel economy rating to that which only a very few vehicles have ever demonstrated.

The goal is beyond the capability of manufacturers to achieve solely with internal combustion engines; given available technologies they must focus on improving and deploying "series hybrid battery electric" and "all electric" vehicles.

Improvements in ICEs will help at the low end, but given the range of vehicle types included in the calculations for CAFE standards battery electric drive is required.

[Kolesar]

8. Blown head gasket, ox cart suspension, corroded connectors - yeah I owned a Datsun 210

It could not go up hills at more than 40 mph. I had to downshift twice. Yeah, I owned a Datsun.

[OKIsItJustMe]

9. Clearly, you owned a different Datsun than mine

I cruised up and down hills quite happily.

Perhaps yours was only running on 3 cylinders…

I had a mechanic put it to me this way, “Americans are used to the classic Detroit V-8 that they could run 2 quarts low on dirty oil. You just can’t get away with that with these smaller engines.”

[Kolesar]

10. The McPherson strut towers rusted and broke free from the inner fender

So the steering was all over the place at 65 mph. Good thing the speed limit was 55 mph.

Then I bought a used 1981 Ford Fairmont that drove nicely until 130,000 miles when I gave it away to family. Unlike the Datsun, it never left me stranded.

[OKIsItJustMe]

11. Yup!

(Like I said, the front-end rusted out.)

One day, I was under it, looking up, trying to figure out what that “crunching” sound was that I had heard, and I pronounced the rust “terminal.” It wasn’t the strut towers though, perhaps yours was an earlier year.

[caraher]

12. One tradeoff is in emissions

or so my automotive engineer brother-in-law tells me. I used to drive a '79 Corolla that got over 40 MPG, but he tells me one could never bring that car to market today because of emissions standards. Mileage went down in part because of anti-smog measures.