Improving Gas Mileage For Better Fuel Economy

Gas mileage is the ratio of the distance a vehicle travels to the amount of fuel used. Gas mileage has been an important factor when it comes to evaluating a vehicle specially with fuel prices going up. These are three simple ways to improve gas mileage.

There is a rising awareness for fuel economy because of increasing gas prices. Alternative energy and the green movement have contributed to the rise of hybrid cars and electric cars. Although these vehicles have still ways to go to reach its potential, vehicles like the Tesla and the Prius are now in the public eye and reaching mainstream status.

In an early 2012 study, MIT came out with a study that shows that even with advances in vehicle and fuel technology, it has barely increased the mileage per gallon of current vehicles. This is because current vehicles are bigger and more powerful than vehicles thirty years ago.

The average gas mileage in 1980 was 23 miles per gallon (mpg) compared to the current 27 mpg. Despite this, there are ways to improve gas mileage and increase savings on fuel costs.

Electric and Hybrid Cars Face Pricing Crisis

As mainstream automakers slash their prices on hybrids and electric vehicles (EVs), luxury car makers and upstarts are getting their feet into the market. If you've been waiting to buy, now might be the time - even as EVs become playthings for the well-heeled.

Big Price Drops Mean Low Demand

Automakers may be slashing prices on EVs to counter consumer concerns about high cost and uncertain driving ranges. Nissan and Chevy have announced big price reductions recently for the all-electric Leaf and plug-in hybrid Volt . At new starting prices of $28,800 and $34,185 respectively, these high-tech cars are almost competing at regular car price ranges

Lease deals on electrics and hybrids are getting interesting too, according to FiatUSA and U.S. News.

• The Honda Fit EV leases for $259 /month with only $259 due at signing.
• A Chevrolet Spark EV leases for $199 a month with $999 at signing.
• The Fiat 500e leases for $199 per month with $999 at signing.

Green Cars: An Infographic On Electric and Hybrid Vehicles

A recent study by MIT reports that despite advances in fuel efficiency technology, it has only produced minor gains in terms of gas mileage. From 1980 to 2006, the average gas mileage of vehicles sold in the United States increased by around 15 percent. A further analysis state that the increase should be at 60%.

With the advent of the lithium-ion battery, electric cars and hybrids, are now becoming a commercial alternative to gas powered vehicles. Smaller and more efficient fuel cells (units of li-ion batteries grouped together), have made these category of vehicles a practical transportation choice.

Coupled with increasing gas prices and environmental concerns, alternative energy vehicles are becoming a viable option. This infographic from Nissan shows how electric and hybrid vehicles can be a viable option for one's private transportation needs. It has details about hybrid and electric car tax credits as well as a general overview on savings from switching to alternative energy from fossil fuels.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory Abstract on Multi-Scale Multi-Domain (MSMD) model framework and Lithium Ion Batteries

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory presented its research on its development of the Multi-Scale Multi-Domain (MSMD) model framework and its interactions with Lithiun Ion Batteries. It was presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society as part of the 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society. The abstract of the presentation follows.

Multiscale multiphysics lithium-ion battery model with multidomain modular framework

Gi-Heon Kim, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Phone: 303-275-4437
Email: gi-heon.kim@nrel.gov

MIT News: Algorithm Developed To Allow Cars To Connect To Wi-Fi Network

WiFi is a computer network that uses radio technology to connect to other computers or Wi-Fi enabled devices. This is done without the use of cables.

The wireless technology called 802.11 provides the same function as a wired network which works on Ethernet technology. Wi-Fi networks operate in the 2.4 and 5 GHz radio bands, with some products containing both bands (dual band).

Mobile phones, tablet computers, and laptops use Wi-Fi to connect to the internet. Business establishments and public areas also provide a Wi-Fi connection, these are called Wi-Fi hotspots. While some of these places provide Wi-Fi access for free, others charge a fee to connect to their wireless network.

Sharing data links in networks of cars

Wi-Fi is coming to our cars. Ford Motor Co. has been equipping cars with Wi-Fi transmitters since 2010; according to an Agence France-Presse story last year, the company expects that by 2015, 80 percent of the cars it sells in North America will have Wi-Fi built in. The same article cites a host of other manufacturers worldwide that either offer Wi-Fi in some high-end vehicles or belong to standards organizations that are trying to develop recommendations for automotive Wi-Fi.

Two Wi-Fi-equipped cars sitting at a stoplight could exchange information free of charge, but if they wanted to send that information to the Internet, they’d probably have to use a paid service such as the cell network or a satellite system. At the ACM SIGACT-SIGOPS Symposium on Principles of Distributed Computing, taking place this month in Portugal, researchers from MIT, Georgetown University and the National University of Singapore (NUS) will present a new algorithm that would allow Wi-Fi-connected cars to share their Internet connections. “In this setting, we’re assuming that Wi-Fi is cheap, but 3G is expensive,” says Alejandro Cornejo, a graduate student in electrical engineering and computer science at MIT and lead author on the paper.

The general approach behind the algorithm is to aggregate data from hundreds of cars in just a small handful, which then upload it to the Internet. The problem, of course, is that the layout of a network of cars is constantly changing in unpredictable ways. Ideally, the aggregators would be those cars that come into contact with the largest number of other cars, but they can’t be identified in advance.