With gasoline continuing to be priced in the U.S. market in the high $3 to low-mid $4 range depending on where you live, car manufactures are finally seriously implementing new technologies to increase fuel mileage. Whereas fuel mileage used to rank well below looks, comfort and performance as deciding factors when Americans chose what kind of car they plunked their money down on, gas mileage is now much more important to the average consumer for economic reasons, not to mention of supreme importance when it comes to Americans with environmental concerns.
This article will explore three new vehicles that all take different approaches to increasing gas consumption. These three vehicles are as different from each other as the new technology that drives their increased performance in the miles per gallon department.
The 2012 Dodge Charger can be equipped with a 292 horse power motor and a revolutionary 8-speed automatic transmission built by ZF, which allows a full size car weighing in at more than 4,000 pounds and almost 300 horse power to achieve 31 MPG on the highway while still propelling the car to 60 MPH in a mere 7.2 seconds . With eight speeds instead of the usual four, five or even six gears that come in most automatic transmissions, this vehicle contains three different overdrive gears (sixth, seventh, and eighth) and allows a much more efficient use of the motor’s horse power. When you have eight gears to choose from, it is not difficult during civilian driving for the car to find an optimal gear ratio to select from no matter what speed you are driving.
The new “Plug in Prius” from Toyota will be available in 2012. According to Wired Magazine, which had the chance to drive a beta version of the car, the average MPG on the car is a stalwart 62.6. The new Prius differs from the non-plug-in model in that it has an extra 358 pounds of batteries and electronics which allow the car to be plugged in for 3 hours (in the same outlet as your TV) at a time which permits the car to run for 13 miles on pure electricity. The reviewers at Wired tried running the car without charging it and still got close to 50 miles per gallon. They also tried driving the car with a light foot after the charge-up sessions and managed to get between 70-80 MPG.
Ford has already released an Eco Boost V-6 Engine available on its popular 2011 F-150 line of pickup trucks. This motor is only a six cylinder and has a small displacement (for a full-size truck) of 3.5L yet it is able to tow 11,000 pounds and carry a payload of 3,500 pounds all while receiving an EPA rating of 22 MPG highway, which is extremely impressive for a full-size truck with 360 horsepower. Because of the use of the twin turbochargers, the engine gives V8 performance with the weight and full economy of a V6.
As it only looks like gasoline is going to go up in future years, we will definitely see more and more emphasis on new technology that allows us to go further on every gallon of gas we have to buy. Who knows; in a few years we might have cars that are plug-in hybrids, have eight speeds and also sport twin turbo chargers. They may be as fast as muscle cars while using as little fuel as a Smart car. If and when they exist, sign me up.