New Invention Could Boost Fuel Economy 10%

A new fuel-injection device could make all cars burn 10% less fuel -- the equivalent of making a car that now gets 33 mpg get 37 mpg.

It's simple, it's inexpensive. It's almost too good to be true.

Here's how the American Chemical Society, which will publish the study in its Energy & Fuels journal in November, describes the electrorheology invention:

In the new study, Rongjia Tao and colleagues describe development and testing of a new fuel economy booster. The small device consists of an electrically charged tube that can be attached to the fuel line of a car’s engine near the fuel injector. The device creates an electric field that thins fuel, or reduces its viscosity, so that smaller droplets are injected into the engine. That leads to more efficient and cleaner combustion than a standard fuel injector, the researchers say.

In other car news, Chrysler has unveiled prototypes of an electric vehicle and two plug-in electric hybrids, one of which will be ready for sale in 2010. It's Dodge EV could get 150-200 miles on a charge, and plug-in hybrid versions of its Jeep Wrangler and Town & Country could be the first off-road and minivans to use the technology.

Electrification of vehicles is seen as a key strategy for reducing the threat of global warming, because transportation is a big contributor to pollution, and pollutants are more easily controlled from central power plants than from dispersed vehicle fleets.

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