I don't think of myself as a conspiracy theorist, but
sometimes I feel like I may behave as one. The reason is
that if you get me on the topic of the automotive industry
and the fuel efficiency of cars I'll rant for hours (usually
until I've cleared the room). OK, I'm not quite that bad
anymore-I can gauge the boredom factor of my audience, but
I'll tell you one thing for sure. As gas prices start to
approach $4/gallon, people aren't dismissing me quite so
quickly anymore.
So how's my rant go?
Well the first thing I like to bring up is that cars today
really don't get very good gas mileage when compared to the
mileage that cars have gotten over the years. Sure we look
at the hybrids and we are impressed that they can get over
50MPG, but honestly, that's no great feat. The 1984 Honda
Civic Coupe got 64MPG on the highway and 48 in the city.
There's no hybrid out there today that can match those
numbers-not even the current Honda Civic Hybrid!
The modern Civic Hybrid doesn't get the same mileage for one
really simple reason. It's heavier. Much of that extra
weight is from all of the creature comforts that we have
come to appreciate in our cars (and that massive
rechargeable battery in the car's belly). Most people would
be surprised to know that modern cars typically outweigh the
bulky steel beasts from the 60s and 70s. The 1968 Dodge
Charger (the Duke's of Hazard's General Lee) is outweighed
by a Toyota Camry by several hundred pounds.
I tell you this because it is necessary to refute one of the
most common arguments that I hear against our car's getting
better gas mileage: "If the manufacturer's could get better
mileage out of our cars, they would."
That is total bunk
If you look at the average MPG of production vehicles in the
USA, it hovers around exactly what the government requires
those averages to be. When the government raises the CAF
requirements, the manufacturers make their cars get more
miles per gallon. Sure they complain about it the whole way,
because we've all gotten used to having passable fuel
economy and all of the bells and whistles too. Now they have
to work out a way to give us both. And they can.
Keep in mind that that 1984 Honda civic that got 64 MPG on
the highway didn't have fuel injection; it had no computer
to regulate its systems - it used a carburetor (essentially
a device with tubes shaped like hour glasses) to mix the air
and the fuel.
Back in the 60's though the cars weighed about the same,
engines were much, much larger. It wasn't unusual at all to
have 5.0 liter and larger engines, even over 7.0 liter
engines in cars. Many of these engines achieved MPG ratings
into the high 20s and low 30s on the highway. I have owned
several cars from the late 60s and early 70s that achieved
average city MPG ratings of 22MPG with 5.0 Liter engines.
One of the reasons that this is possible is something called
compression ratio. One of the things an engine does when it
burns gas or diesel is it compresses the air-fuel mixture
before it is ignited. The more you compress the mixture the,
the more power you get from the ignition. In the late 60s
many cars had compression ratios over 11 to 1 (some as high
as 13 to 1). Modern cars have compression ratios hovering
around 9 to 1. That means that modern engines have as much
as a 30% decrease in their compression and the power they
can get from the burning of their fuel (depending on a few
other factors as well).
Why on earth is the compression ratio so much lower?
I'm certain that this is what you are asking. The reason is
both simple and complex. It is the octane rating of the fuel
the car burns. When you look at the gas at the pump and you
see those numbers on the regular, mid-grade, and premium
blends of gas you may not know what they mean, but those are
the octane ratings. 87 through 93, typically-depending on
altitude. The higher the octane rating, the more you can
compress the air-fuel mixture. In 1966, premium gas had an
octane rating of 107. That is what allowed engines to
compress the mixture so much more.
It's very important to note that a higher compression ratio
causes the engine to have a more complete burn (the
molecules are closer together and ignite faster) and reduces
emissions. High compression ratio = lower emissions = more
environmentally friendly.
The next obvious question is why is the octane level so much
lower now? That has two reasons. The first is that one of
the things that was used to boost octane was lead. We all
know that lead is bad and that burning it in your engine
makes for a rather unpleasant exhaust. The second is that
the petroleum companies determined that the sweet spot for
them to get the greatest yield out of their refining
processes was to make 87 octane fuel.
If you don't think that the oil companies and refineries do
not work in very close concert with the auto manufacturers,
you need to think again. If you had a product that had one,
very large marketplace, would you not work very closely with
the companies that create that marketplace to make sure that
your products work well together? And would you not be
surprised if mutually beneficial arrangements were reached
that did not necessarily benefit the consumer?
If the auto manufacturers were really concerned about MPG
rating, and if they were really concerned about the
environment, they would have continued making higher
compression engines and the petroleum companies would have
been the ones forced to modify their product. What actually
happened was that the auto manufacturers dropped the
compression ratios on their engines and the petroleum
companies got to get more bang for their buck and we all
burn more gas on less efficient engines. It's a win/win for
them and a lose/lose for us.
We know leaded gas is out - but is there anything else?
If you load the Wikipedia article on octane ratings for
gasoline you will find a section that lists the octane
ratings for different fuels. You'll note that E85 and
Methanol can have ratings in the 105-107 range. That's huge.
That means that if an engine was made to burn those fuels
specifically the compression could be increased and the
power and mileage would increase and emissions would
decrease.
Unfortunately the so-called 'flex-fuel' cars that are made
that can run on E85 and (rarely) methanol still use lower
compression ratios and don't get a really significant
benefit. A lot like the time you tried premium in your car
and saw zero improvement over regular.
So what can we do?
If you haven't gotten this impression yet, let me re-enforce
it. The auto manufacturers are only going to go as far as
they have to to meet the requirements that the government
sets. They will go no further. It's up to us, the public, to
take control of our own fates and expect life changing and
ground-breaking things from big business and the government.
Just a few short years ago the Ansari X-Prize was announced.
10 Million dollars for the first private company to get a
ship into space twice within 2 weeks. Many companies entered
with varying degrees of success and many naysayers said it
couldn't be done-that only projects with massive funding
from the government could get people into space.
Scaled Composites, a US company expended (at my last time of
reading) roughly $20 million dollars and got a man into
space. The current X-Prize is going to be awarded to the
first non-government agency to build a car that can get
100MPG and then win a race against other entrants. The cars
have to have things like air conditioning and stereo
systems. Already private entrants (often part time
hobbyists) are producing prototypes that are getting over
90MPG - from vehicles they are building in their garages.
Just like when the automotive revolution began a century
ago, it is the everyday Americans and inventive people from
around the world that are stepping up and trying new and
exciting things to solve problems that big business and the
governments are stymied by.
Get in on the exciting changes.
There are a lot of things you can do and try. From altering
your car to burn E85/Methanol (and even if you only get
moderate MPG improvement - helping the environment), to
burning vegetable oil in your diesel (commonly known as
biodiesel), to revolutionary water electrolyzers that
extract HHO gas from water and burn it in your engine.
Check out alternativefuelupdate.com to learn about many of
these exiting ideas, solutions and products that you can
take advantage of to join the revolution and (if you'll
forgive my slightly conspiracy theorist sounding term) stick
it to the man.
Michael Cooper is an automotive enthusiast and he has been
working on cars since he was 8. Visit his new site
http://alternativefuelsupdate.com to see the products and
technologies he recommends to get better gas mileage