Increasing MPG easily

[Jerome Scuggs]

Acetone - 3oz. per 10 gallons of fuel is said to increase MPG up to 35%.

The original argue has almost a T0NE-ish "the reason acetone isn't popular is because the gub'ment and Big Oil is out to get your money" flair to it, but I've collected links and it seems to be valid.

Original article:
http://www.lubedev.com/articles/additive.htm

A wiki where people report their results:
http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directo..._Fuel_Additive

I'm going to try it soon enough, I'll report back.

[Blanke]

What kind of car do you drive, that probably has a direct influence on the car.

Good luck :-)

[Theif of Time]

I'm no expert on it but I'd expect that most car engines are designed to use a specific sort of fuel efficiently, and adding acetone may have adverse (or positive) effects on the engine. If you know about cars, go ahead. If you don't... well, use caution.

Kind of like the electric car argument. Part of the reason they are so expensive is because the batteries are expensive to manufacture, and so the cost of the battery takes up the majority of the cost of the car. If more people bought electric cars, as will most likely happen in decades to come, then the battery price would drop. I've never driven one, but from what I hear they can acheive the same (or better) speeds than normal cars, but have nowhere near the range, and you need to recharge them every 50K's or so.

[Jerome Scuggs]

I'm no expert on it but I'd expect that most car engines are designed to use a specific sort of fuel efficiently, and adding acetone may have adverse (or positive) effects on the engine. If you know about cars, go ahead. If you don't... well, use caution.

According to the articles all it does it lessen surface tension, making it easy for the fuel to burn.

[Blanke]

Kind of like the electric car argument. Part of the reason they are so expensive is because the batteries are expensive to manufacture, and so the cost of the battery takes up the majority of the cost of the car. If more people bought electric cars, as will most likely happen in decades to come, then the battery price would drop. I've never driven one, but from what I hear they can acheive the same (or better) speeds than normal cars, but have nowhere near the range, and you need to recharge them every 50K's or so.

Hybrids work extremely well. RX 400h is very, very nice.

[Theif of Time]

Yeah, my universities mechanical engineering department has their own hybrid car project. A lecturer came and gave us a lecture on it.

Also, some students developed a 'lightning gun' that sends large bolts of lightning at things. Fun. And so, when demonstrating it, they accidentally managed to blow a hole in the wall.
I think they sold it to the US military, or something, to be used as an anti-wall weapon.

[Krusnik]

Screw hybrids. Electric cars are the future. There is already 1 electric car that is more powerful than the porsche 911 turbo. The Eliica can reach 0 to 60km/h in 4 seconds, and 100km/h in 6 seconds. The prototype that was built to show how powerful electric car's can be can reach 390km/h. Unfortunately the commercial version will cost a quarter of a million dollars, so they won't be releasing them for a while. Oh yeah the car has 8 wheels, and is around 1.5 tonnes.

[Jerome Scuggs]

I was rooting through a friend's older brother's papers in his basement, and found a paper he wrote for my physics teacher in like, 1999 called "hybrid cars: fiction or fact?"

it talked about the "very real possibility" of hybrid cars.

right under it was a PC world mag from 1997 with $1300 PC's at an amazing 200mHz

[Theif of Time]

Majin uub, its not so much the problem of power in electric cars.

Its their range
A 200, 300K road trip is not possible in an electric car, as you generally need to stop every 50 K's to recharge. For an hour or so.
Or carry extra batteries.

[Blanke]

Screw hybrids. Electric cars are the future. There is already 1 electric car that is more powerful than the porsche 911 turbo. The Eliica can reach 0 to 60km/h in 4 seconds, and 100km/h in 6 seconds. The prototype that was built to show how powerful electric car's can be can reach 390km/h. Unfortunately the commercial version will cost a quarter of a million dollars, so they won't be releasing them for a while. Oh yeah the car has 8 wheels, and is around 1.5 tonnes.

Okay, maybe electric cars are the Far future--no, i believe hydrogen is lol. Ummm 0-60km/hr is about 0-30 mph in 4 seconds? something like that? Depends on where you live, but htat's not all too fast, but it's not extremely extremely horrible either. The availability of it is also a factor of why hybrids are much more advantageous right now.

Prius gets about 50-60 mpg
RX 400h 30/27 mpg city/highway

Accord and highlander no idea.

Yeah, 30/27 might not seem like much, until you remember that the RX is an SUV.

They are a very good alternative to the gasoline we use in the states, and are becoming more accessible to the public each year. Toyota will make its entire lineup a hybrid one at a time. That's how much of an effect the hybrid has on the world. From my American, narrow point of view on our market.

[Theif of Time]

yes, in all seriousness there needs to be some kind of alternative to fuel, and electric cars and hybrids are stepping into that void. I'd say that while hydrogen is readily available fuel, with large quantities avaiable in water, it still needs to be split, and that takes energy. Not a problem once more powerful Nuclear and even Fusion reactors are commonplace.
For the moment, there will probably be transition fuels such as alcohols, various plant-derived fuels, hydrogen/ plant fuel mixtures... All the while the cars are evolving along with the fuels.