fuel economy

Wouldn't it be great if you could buy a device on the Internet for, I don't know, $200, bolt it onto your car and enjoy an instant reduction in emissions and an increase in fuel economy?

Claims like that are as old as the hills. We've all heard about the 100-miles-per-gallon carburetor that "they" don't want you to have, and the scientist whose invention was mysteriously suppressed just as he was about to bring incredibly cheap people's power to the world (think Nikola Tesla).

The Blade: Looks good, doesn't it?

It's inevitable that when fuel prices zoomed up, these devices would see a revival. (Yes, I know gas has come down, but is anyone really happy with $3 a gallon?)

Free lunches are hard to come by, however. Popular Mechanics tested a bunch of "fuel savers" back in 2005 and concluded that absolutely none of them worked. One even started a fire. These devices use miracle magnets, vortex generators, ionizers and water injection. But the only thing they reduced, PM said, was the cash in your wallet.

And this brings us to the latest device, The Blade, which bolts on to the exhaust pipe. It's kind of cool looking in a retro way. Remember those chrome exhaust tips people put on their cars to create a fake hot rod? I've only seen pictures on the website, and I have no idea if the Brazil-sourced Blade actually works. But, given the history, I think caution might be in order.

Don't worry, though, because actress Laura Dern says it works. "Having a Blade on my hybrid car allows me to continue driving with the satisfaction that I am lowering my carbon footprint and burning less fuel," she says.

The Blade is definitely more credible than most. The company paid for independent testing by the respected Automotive Testing and Development Services (ATDS) in Canada. On a 2004 Honda Civic, the Blade allegedly achieved a 57 percent reduction in hydrocarbons, 14 percent in carbon monoxide, 34 percent in nitrogen oxides and six percent in carbon dioxide (the main global warming gas). And on the highway, the numbers show it achieving a five percent fuel economy improvement.

ATDS Vice President Lin Farmer, who conducted the tests, said the Blade "seemed to be doing something on the positive side." He pointed out, however, that the 2004 Civic is a very low-emission car (the numbers for emissions of hydrocarbons, for instance, ranged from 0.0010 without the Blade, to 0.0004 with it).

"It's possible that some of the large improvements in gases are due to test-to-test variability and the fact that we were working with such small numbers," Farmer said. He added, however, that the Blade "performed better than other devices we tested." And the fuel economy numbers impressed him.

William J. O'Brien founded parent company Sabertec in 2005, after he came across the Blade on a visit to Brazil in his role as a venture capitalist. He's a great talker, and I can't pretend to understand everything he said. Luckily, there's a You Tube video that lets you judge for yourself. Here's some of what he said to me when I asked him how a device bolted on to the tailpipe can increase fuel economy. It's unfortunately somewhat paraphrased, because he talks fast:

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You might think that all the emphasis on clean and green cars in recent years -- and all the talk about people finally giving up their SUVs -- would have an effect on overall fuel economy. And you'd be right!

A new Environmental Protection Agency report concludes that the average "light duty" vehicle (cars and light trucks) got 20.8 miles per gallon in model year 2008. That's a small but heartening increase over the 20.6 mpg they got in 2007.

SUVs are going begging.

What's more, the EPA says that its study of sales data shows that subcompacts, compacts and midsized cars are the only classes meeting projections. Big gas-guzzling SUVs and pickups are down as much as 25 percent. And -- can this be the United States of America? -- the four-cylinder engine has gained ground over the six and V-8.

The EPA thinks its projections are too conservative, and that the actual increase in mileage is even more.

For those of us who had reluctantly concluded that SUVs were part of America's "sacred way of life," this is very good news. One wishes the improvements were bigger, but this is an incremental shift. The last time we saw it was from 1975 (after the Arab oil embargo) through the early 1980s. Remember Ronald Reagan removing the solar panels from the White House? That was also around the time that gas prices plummeted, and the country went to sleep on fuel economy.

The EPA actually seems passionate about reducing our fossil fuel intake even further. "Fuel economy is directly related to energy security," it says, "because light-duty vehicles account for approximately 40 percent of all U.S. oil consumption, and much of this oil is imported."

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The original Honda Insight, which broke the fuel economy barrier with 70 miles per gallon on the highway, certainly made a splash when it appeared on American roads back in 1999.

Although the Insight was the first hybrid for sale in the U.S., beating out the Toyota Prius, its one-liter engine, limited seating, relatively rough ride and bare-bones accommodations kept it a niche vehicle. The aluminum-bodied car was super-light, less than 2,000 pounds, but the weight advantage also made is susceptible to crosswinds. I remember driving one over a bridge and fighting the wheel to keep it in line. I liked it, though.

Honda's Insight concept car: a Prius fighter.

But now the Honda Insight is back as an approximately $18,000 five-passenger hatchback Prius fighter, and it's much better looking this time (sharing styling with the company's sleek FCX Clarity hydrogen fuel-cell car). The platform is all new for Honda, with the battery pack and controller safely tucked away below the cargo area. As with the earlier Insight and Civic Hybrid, the new generation of the Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) system runs mainly on the gas engine and uses the electric motor as a booster.

Honda has huge ambitions for new Insight sales, anticipating a not-impossible 100,000 a year in North America (half of the worldwide sales). This carmaker has some clean car bragging rights. It introduced the first low-emission gasoline vehicles, the first hybrid on the U.S. market and the world's first EPA-certified hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle.

Honda spokesman Chris Naughton says the new Insight will be at the Paris Auto Show, which starts October 4, though there's no guarantee more information will be forthcoming even then. "There's not much information out there, and much of what's being said is speculation," Naughton says. "Though it could be considered sound speculation if you report that the IMA system will have an evolutionary design."

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I don't really understand General Motors. The company is totally on the ropes, reporting a three-month loss of $15.5 billion in early August, with North American sales down 20 percent. Some 74,000 workers could lose their jobs in a new round of buyouts and early retirements. And more factories making big SUVs and trucks will close.

The Tahoe XFE: only modest fuel-efficiency gains.

We're still waiting for competitive small cars that would get people excited about going into a GM showroom. Meanwhile, the company's strategy is...to make minuscule improvements to its big Silverados, Sierras, Tahoes and Yukons and paint them PR green.

The new Xtra Fuel Economy (XFE) models (all with two-wheel-drive and the 5.3-liter V-8 engine), deliver a five percent improvement in highway mileage and seven percent in city driving! Wow! A combination of weight loss, aerodynamics and mechanical improvements gets them to 15 city and 21 highway! Standard big boys are at 14/20, so if you do much highway driving you'll hardly notice an improvement.

The same basic problem exists with GM's big hybrids. The '06 Chevy Silverado Hybrid, for instance, delivers 16/19 mpg. Not exactly impressive, and again hardly better than the standard (and cheaper) truck. For '09, GM will put its sophisticated dual-mode hybrid system in the Silverado, for a claimed 25 percent overall fuel economy improvement. But it's still a gas guzzler.

Guess what? GM trotted out its $50,000 dual-mode Yukon and Tahoe hybrids (21 city/22 highway, comparable to a standard four-cylinder Toyota Camry), and sales have been, well, slow. Instead of the projected 10,000 to 15,000 per year, GM has been selling more like 500 a month.

Here's the problem: They're too big! People don't want big cars and trucks anymore! GM argues that it can have more impact on the environment by improving the performance of the big vehicles that "people want to buy" than it can making small, fuel-efficient cars. But that argument is threadbare today.

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